Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows
Guy Ritchie
The story: The brilliant detective Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr) is investigating a series of seemingly unrelated crimes. With Europe’s peace at stake, he has to figure out – and stop – the game plan of the shadowy Dr Moriarty (Jared Harris) with the help of his trusted sidekick Dr John Watson (Jude Law) and
Sim, a gypsy fortune-teller (Noomi Rapace).

The sequel to the 2009 hit Sherlock Holmes reunites director Guy Ritchie with stars Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law.
It sticks to the same tone of the earlier movie, essentially a buddy-cop pairing of two men of very different temperament in an action-thriller. Think, say, Lethal Weapon (1987) set at the end of 19th- century Europe.
This being a sequel, everything, including the stakes, has to be grander and bigger.
The action is not just confined to London, as a building gets blown up in Paris, and Holmes and gang have to run for their lives through a forest in Germany as bullets zing and bombs explode around them.
The stakes are both political – peace in Europe – and personal, as Moriarty goes after Watson and his new wife Mary (Kelly Reilly).
Things get off to a quick and boisterous start with Holmes in disguise tracking former-lover-turned- Moriarty-associate Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams).
There is a dust-up and an assassination, followed by a stag party for Watson which turns into a messy brawl as Holmes tries to save Sim from a killer.
There is a lot happening and it feels rather disjointed as the film lurches from one set-up to the next.
Good thing that the movie remains grounded by the Holmes-Watson relationship even as it is being tested by Watson’s marriage.
Downey’s manic and wild-eyed Holmes plays off Law’s more sensible and uptight Watson, and Ritchie handles their bromance with a light comic touch.
Jared Harris, from TV’s acclaimed drama Mad Men, is not quite menacing enough as the world’s greatest criminal mastermind though.
But it was a nice touch that when the nefarious plot is finally uncovered, Moriarty points out that Holmes is fighting forces that are beyond him and that the audience knows would eventually lead to world war. There are limits to what even the great Sherlock Holmes can accomplish.
Unfortunately, the female characters get short shrift here.
Noomi Rapace, so compelling as Lisbeth Salander in the 2009 Swedish/Danish film adaptations of the late Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series, has little to do besides glower and flounce in her skirt as Sim. And Reilly and McAdams essentially have cameo roles.
What is lost in this busy film is the cerebral nature of Holmes’ detective work. This is something that Benedict Cumberbatch coolly nails as Holmes in the recent critically acclaimed BBC series Sherlock, which returns for a second season next month. Which is why the TV show is, for me, the more eagerly awaited sequel.
(ST)