The Last Movie I Saw

I think I've mentioned here in the past that I'd be willing to see Robert Downey Jr. in almost anything-- I think he's that good, and maybe more importantly interesting, an actor. I've also enjoyed some of director Guy Ritchie's work, especially Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and its stylistic cousin Snatch. So, I was willing to give their new collaboration on Sherlock Holmes more than a fair chance (despite some reservations created by the preview which featured an inordinate number of explosions for a Arthur Conan Doyle based story). Downey doesn't disappoint, and Jude Law makes a particularly impressive he-man like Dr. Watson, but taken all together the movie practically defines mindless forgetability (to coin a phrase?). The storytelling is way too convoluted, while at the same time patronizingly telegraphic. It felt like it was three hours long, when it actually clocks in under two. I get the impression that this project started out as an examination of the friendship between the two main characters, stressed by the imminent departure of Watson from their Baker Street digs for marriage. Focusing on that element had some potential, but unfortunately a bunch of nonsense concocted around the sinister Lord Blackwood takes center stage, and that stuff is just stupid. It's pretty clear from the mild cliffhanger ending (identifying Professor Moriarty as a looming foe) that a sequel is in the works, but it'll be really hard for me to give that film the same benefit of the doubt I granted this one. I can think of better ways to waste three-- sorry, two-- hours of my life.