In recent years, we’ve seen numerous stagnant franchises revived from the doldrums of mediocrity and obscurity, chiefly the Batman series at the hand of Christopher Nolan, but typically this blockbuster treatment only works if the character you’re clamping the defibrillators onto was born in the blockbuster tradition, where good and evil are clearly defined, and the status quo is the dominant ideology. Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes does anything but adhere to the prescribed statement: though insanely clever, he is also a drug addict, and while gangster-pic maestro Guy Ritchie makes an attempt to highlight the wily Detective’s more sordid side, this is a film that reeks of studio sanitation. Above all else, it is a property that deserves something edgier than a comfortable 12A treatment.

To be fair, the film begins with promise, as Hans Zimmer’s frenetic score accompanies Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) and Dr. John Watson (Jude Law) while they frantically race to prevent a young woman being sacrificed by the misguided Lord Blackwood (Ritchie’s Rocknrolla breakout star Mark Strong). Blackwood is caught and executed, but not before he warns Holmes of three impending deaths, causing Holmes and Watson to begin investigating, while Holmes attempts to juggle his numerous vices, the seeming resurrection of Blackwood, and the re-appearance of Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams), the only person to have ever out-smarted Holmes. Indeed, the game is afoot, and it has promise, but it pratfalls spectacularly due to a phoned-in script and general lack of excitement.

The first thirty minutes of Sherlock Holmes are solid and compelling, largely thanks to Downey and Law, who have made the characters their own, engaging in a few witty exchanges that cement the long-held dynamic between the two, while on their own merits performing with more than a wink and a nudge. Their charm is persuasive enough that Richie’s famously outlandish direction does not stifle its momentum; the most flagrant directorial moment involves Holmes fighting people in slow motion, while via voice-over, Holmes details the injuries caused and recovery time, before Ritchie replays the fight, this instance in real time. It’s a cute little technique but it works well and Ritchie shows some restraint in only doing it twice.

The film is problematic not because of its strange choice of director, but because of a wildly uneven script that begins and ends fairly well, but sags so offensively in the middle that it makes the biggest mistake a blockbuster can: it is boring. Once Blackwood leaves the breadcrumbs, the film becomes painfully procedural, taking a rudimentary detective story approach, with Holmes gathering clues, getting in a brisk fight, and then continuing on. Repeat this formula a few times and we get to a mildly engaging climax that never quite manages to be exciting enough and is sadly rather underwhelming. This middle expository element of the film is an awkward smattering of Da Vinci Code-esque mysticism with more than a few allusions to The Prestige (although never quite going the full whack like you might imagine it would), and once it becomes clear that Holmes is dealing with a nefarious alliance of hooded baddies, it became a film very easy to dismiss.

It’s all the more shameful that the script isn’t up to standard because all of the other elements are clearly game: Downey and Law make a great team, McAdams is fine as the femme fatale (although an older actress would have been better), and Ritchie’s flamboyant directorial style surprisingly works. Though the crew give the material personality, not even their solid efforts can compensate for a pallid script that skates by on rudimentary out-of-the-bag plot elements, and action sequences that aren’t as fun as they should be. Holmes is a film that one wants to enjoy, but with the snoozy middle section dominating things, it isn’t easy. Ritchie’s experience in the gangster genre made him an interesting choice for a gritty, violent, lurid, 18-rated Holmes, but what we get instead is a safe, sanitised, no-brainer interpretation of the famed detective. It is ripe franchise fodder, and its present box-office receipts suggest a future encounter between Holmes and Moriarty, but I hope next time they come up with something darker, smarter and more engaging, because the cast and crew deserve it.