Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) Directed by Guy Ritchie.Starring: Stars: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law and Jared Harris. IMDB says: “Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick Dr. Watson join forces to outwit and bring down their fiercest adversary, Professor Moriarty.“
One of the most enjoyable films of the 2009 winter season is back to expand on the franchise. Director Guy Ritchie gives us another Sherlock Holmes installment with Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows. I’m pretty happy to report that this sequel is just as much fun as it’s predecessor, with only a few minor faults to note.
The wonderful duo, Sherlock and Dr. Watson (played perfectly by Downey Jr. and Law), are at it again and this time facing a whole new mess of evil. Sherlock Holmes and his never ending search for compelling adversaries, has quite possibly met his match with the exceedingly smart and dangerously evil Professor Moriarty (Harris). The film’s plot follows Holmes as he steals Watson away from his newly married wife and ventures to outwit Moriarty and halt his sinister plans. Basically, Lord Blackwood from Sherlock Holmes was just a warm up, and Moriarty is the real deal. Along the way, Holmes also aligns with a Gypsy named Madam Simza (Noomi Rapace of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo fame), who assists in the adventure.
As always, the characters are hilarious and bizarre. The usual duo, in addition to the new villain and damsel, are all well acted and a joy to watch. The Sherlock Holmes films bring some new life to the mystery genre, combining action, humor and suspense. Instead of a whodunit, the film focuses on how the clues will come together and if Holmes will be able to stop the villain in time. I love stories like this one because there seems to be this impossible mystery that isn’t frustrating to the audience, it’s so fanciful that you just want to get caught up and let the story do the talking. My inner thoughts are dimmed so I can revel in the film’s excitement.
Another fantastic element to this sequel is Guy Ritchie. Everyone was skeptical of the merging of Richie’s signature style to the intellectual nature of the Sherlock Holmes stories, but I was definitely impressed at how well the two pulled together. Here in the sequel, we certainly see more of that work. Most familiar, of course, is the slow motion fight breakdowns we are shown as we study Holmes thought process. There are some more of these great moments in Game Of Shadows, and this time they play with the audience a bit. Then in addition to what we saw in the first film, Richie really goes all out with some amazing action sequences. Most notably, there is a shoot out scene in a forest that looks absolutely fantastic. Richie’s kinetic camerawork and style not only makes the action insanely watchable, it makes the whole scene memorizing. It’s certainly been quite a while since I have watched such a memorable scene in a film.
So a great cast, energetic direction and a witty script? What could possibly be this film’s detractor? Well, it’s a small gripe, but an accurate one. My ONLY issue with the first Sherlock Holmes film was Rachel McAdam’s character, Irene Adler. I generally sing McAdam’s praises, but I felt she was highly miscast in the first film. The character itself wasn’t extremely well written, but in the hands of a slightly older, more seductive actress, the role could have had more pop. I was looking forward to seeing less of the character in the sequel, but here we have a new problem. The Irene character is swapped out (to an extent) in Game Of Shadows for the lovely Noomi as Madam Simza. Regrettably, her character is barely in the film to do anything other than tag along and help drive a small bit of the plot. She only gets to show off some acting skills, and action skills for that matter, for a small chunk of screen time. It was very unfortunate that her talents weren’t able to be utilized more throughout the film.
But let’s not end this on a bad note, Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows is a very enjoyable film. The film joyously layers humor and action in a way that will surely not disappoint moviegoers. Make sure to check this one out in theaters!
FTS SCORE:
86%
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is in theaters now.