Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

As much as I loved the character interactions and insane chemistry between Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, I was very much let down by Sherlock Holmes when I first saw it a few years ago. It was a really stylish and well-made film, but the storyline bored me to tears. I came in incredibly excited to see it, and left wishing it had ended sooner. With the obvious sequel Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows upon us, I figured I would go in with much lower expectations and brace for something along the same lines.

Europe is at the brink of war, with many little seemingly unconnected events occurring across the nations. Sherlock Holmes (Downey Jr.) believes it to be the work of the brilliant Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris). He enlists the help of his sidekick, Watson (Law), to help him uncover the truth, before it is too late.

With less of a focus on the occult, a stronger plot and a significantly more interesting villain, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows outdoes its predecessor in many respects. It ups the thrills and the action, continues the fun, and delivers one of the better sequel going experiences this year.

Even though the story is a bit wonky in certain respects (more on that in a moment), I feel A Game of Shadows manages to feel a lot more grounded than the original. There is a clear storyline, and an even clearer path of where the film wants to go. It stalls here and there, as I imagined it would, but it never lingers like the original did. The art direction is just as incredible as it was, and the special effects seem to have been improved greatly. Where the first film flopped around, this film picks up the slack.

While Downey Jr. and Law are just as impeccable and well matched as they were the first time round, the film benefits greatly from the addition of Harris as Moriarty. The character's presence was felt throughout the first film, but the film noticeable lost its edge by simply referring to him in passing and hinting at what a sequel could have had in store. Bringing him into the fold, he immediately is tenfold better than Mark Strong ever could have hoped to be. Watching Harris match wits with Downey is simply astounding, and makes for the most wildly enjoyable parts of the film. There is never a dull moment when he is around, and instead of making the film drone on, he invigorates it with an immense amount of energy. Harris knows exactly how to look deceptive, even with a wide grin and dialogue that does not even hint at ulterior motives. His looks are downright terrifying in a lot of instances. This is his first major film role, and I can only hope filmmakers continue using his dastardly skills for antiheroes and villains alike.

I think the film's biggest hurtle, and the one that hurts it the most, is that there are simply too many characters and too many of them did not need to appear in the first place. Rapace's character is nothing more than a plot device, used to connect certain sections together and forgotten almost entirely all too often. The practically blink-and-you- will-miss them moments for Rachel McAdams and Eddie Marsan feel more like Richie peddling to the fans, as opposed to actually serving a real point to the film. It is fun seeing them show up again, but considering they have little to no effect on the plot, they could have easily just never showed up at all. But the far worst offender of not serving any purpose is Stephen Fry as Mycroft Holmes. He brings a ridiculous amount of humour to the film, and he is a welcome addition on the onset. But as the film progresses, it becomes clear he is merely there simply to make the film even more ludicrous and silly than Downey Jr. makes it. When the inevitable third film drops, I hope they actually use him effectively, instead of making his appearance feel like a mere tease.

What also hurts the film is Richie's incessant need to use slow motion in every action sequence. While it works insanely and surprisingly well for the film's centrepiece involving a foot chase through a forest, it feels like overkill in almost every other instance. We understand from the first film that Holmes likes to evaluate the moves of both his adversaries and himself before he makes them, but watching him plot it out helps drag the film out longer than it needs to be. It is fun and worthwhile when it is used sparingly, or used to draw attention to something specific. But when Richie is one-upping Zack Snyder in the worst possible way, it begs the question of whether he learned any mistakes from the first film or not. At just under 130 minutes, I feel like a good fifteen minutes of slow motion could have been sped up, and would have looked just as great. Hell, Richie potentially could have shown off a bit of his own style too, instead of just what he cribbed from everyone else.

While the film still has its problems, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is an enjoyable ride from start to finish. It maintained my interest, where the first film had me counting the excruciating minutes before it would end. Richie still has a lot to learn about as a filmmaker (and even more as a man who creates his own style instead of Tarantino-ing from others), he does know how to make a crafty film. Now if he can stop hinting at future installments and just give us a film that sticks to being about the story at hand, then maybe we might just get the perfect rendition of this legendary detective.

8/10.

While we have new ingredients (= actors/characters) such as the girl formerly having a tattoo and a new bad guy, we also still have our beloved Holmes/Watson duo. And by that I mean the same actors in the role. Jude Law and especially Robert Downey Jr. having a lot of fun again and it shows.

Some other characters return and we have the "vision" mode in the movie again (at least that's what I call it and I'm sure you know what I mean if you've seen the first guy Ritchie Holmes). Making the Holmes movies is not easy. There is not only a rich written history but also quite a few movies. I have to admit that I wasn't thinking of either. Ritchie managed to create a world (especially with the first entry into his Holmes saga), that can be seen as standalone.

So if you liked the first one, you will like this one too. Even if you think you might be fed up by some of the neat tricks he's using or even if you expected Rachel McAdams to be back "big" in this movie too.

Sherlock Holmes A Game Of Shadows was a great sequel that had great slow motion scenes and awesome fight scenes.

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson did a very good job of saving the world from an evil professor named James Moriarty. Stephen Fry who played "Mycroft Holmes" Sherlock's brother was funny character that talks very English and he was strange sometimes. I thought that Noomi Repace who played "Madam Simza heron" did great job playing that character. And Jared Harris who played "Professor James Moriarty" was just as smart as Sherlock Holmes. And I thought the last fight scene in this movie was interesting. Sherlock and Moriaty could think different attacks on each other, that scene was intense.

The train scene was awesome,Sherlock disguised as a girl was funny. Also, the running scene in the forest was great.

This movie was very thrilling!

I, as a fan of Sherlock Holmes and of the portrayals given by Basil Rathbone and Jeremy Brett, personally loved the first Sherlock Holmes, it was fun, stylish and clever, with impeccably matched leads and a good villain, even with moments of annoying slow-motion, things getting convoluted and draggy in the second hour and Rachel McAdams.

Although the trailers suggested otherwise, I very much enjoyed this sequel. While there are a few improvements to the first film, it is overall not as good. My problems with the film come from the eventually annoying slow-motion in every fight sequence, it was fine at first but after a while it was overkill. I also felt there were too many characters some of whom don't have much time to develop, and instead are either come and go or blink and you'll miss. Lastly, the last forty-five minutes or so felt-like the first-rather sluggish in the pacing.

However, the film still looks wonderful, with the sets especially absolutely spectacular and a lot of effort is done into making the atmosphere evocative. The cinematography and lighting are also very good, with the lighting in particular giving some scenes a suitably haunting look. The music score is rousing, Guy Ritchie's direction is more efficient this time around, the first hour and a quarter or so goes at a cracking pace and more than makes up for the rather duller half and the dialogue especially with Holmes crackles.

Despite some of my criticisms, there were a couple of improvements. One was Noomi Rapace, whose appearance and style is much more suited to the period, McAdams as Irene gave it her all in the first but I sometimes found her hair and the way the character dressed jarring. Two is that apart from the draggy last act the story this time around is much more involving and contains much more going on to compel the viewer, the first was generally a great idea and was fun but got a little confusing by the end. Lastly, Jared Harris as Moriaty, Mark Strong was good but Moriaty as a whole is a more interesting villain, and I loved how cunning yet smooth Harris' performance was.

Not to mention Stephen Fry as Mycroft, a wonderful and very thoughtful performance in my view, and he even gets his own nude scene. In fact all the cast bring a lot of gusto to the roles even the sidelined(personally I found this a wise move) McAdams. I do wish though there was more of Eddie Marsan as Lestrade, his ineptness is such a great contrast to Holmes' more clever and inquisitive approach and I would have loved to have seen that come through more. Robert Downey Jnr once again is a very charismatic Holmes, and Jude Law as the more authoritative and composed character of Watson is also perfect. Again they are impeccably matched and work wonderfully together.

All in all, I found it very entertaining. Although there are a few things I preferred here, I did prefer the original, but this sequel compared to the film the trailers made it look is equally worthy. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Holmes and Watson battle Moriarty.

I loved it, it is an absolutely bonkers, of the wall thrill ride, and purists of the traditional Holmes stories will probably be appalled, but if you're after two hours of intense fun, and high energy excitement, you will love it.

The cast are tremendous, Downy, Law and Harris are all first rate, hard to put a pin between the trio, and ten years on, the special effects are still jaw dropping.

It's good fun as well, several laughs, I loved Downey's various disguises, reminiscent of Rathbone.

I love how some elements are thrown in, the events of Reichenbach, the appearance of Moran etc, although you can't really think Conan Doyle would ever have imagined most of the events here.

Rip roaring good fun, 9/10.