“It’s a game dear man, it’s a shadowy game.” Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is superior to the original in almost every way. If you liked the first one, you’ll love the sequel but if you didn’t, then it’s more of the same. It’s almost as if the first one was a weird experiment that just worked and audiences loved and this one is taking that end result and refining it into a smart, well thought-out action flick. I think it’s the smartest blockbuster movie we’ve seen all year with a villain that’s actually a good match for the hero and dialogue that challenges the audience to follow along. It’s definitely more eloquent than the first and I applaud it for that.
Everybody from the original is back: Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes, Jude Law as Dr. John Watson, and Rachel McAdams as Irene Adler; but not everybody makes it passed the opening credits. Rachel McAdams is replaced by Noomi Rapace who is the gypsy sister of a puzzle piece in this new mystery and we are introduced to Jared Harris as Professor James Moriarty who is the man pulling all the strings…or should I say moving all the pieces because like every other film, chess is used as the sophisticated game metaphor. It’s great how this movie doesn’t take the mystery too seriously and puts most of the cards on the table. Yet, it was still fun to watch everything unravel through the eyes of Holmes and Watson.
Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson
The game is pretty obvious but still shrouded in mystery for those who don’t figure out things quite as fast. In typical Sherlock Holmes style, a lot of the scenes are played out in Holmes’ mind for us before he does them and key observations are zoomed in on and highlighted throughout the movie. If you like that style of directing, Guy Ritchie made this movie just for you. But along with that are some amazing action scenes. There is one devastating slow motion sequence that I much watch again. It’s better than any war film I’ve seen recently and uses a lot of great camera tricks. They did a beautiful job of balancing the comedy with the action and mixing the two at some points.
BOOM. Action.
Robert Downey Jr. no doubtingly holds up this franchise and again shows why he’s such an amazing actor. The way he plays with the words on the page are uncanny and he never ceases to surprise audiences with the way he moves. The same slightly homo-relationship between him and Watson is still very evident even with the side storyline of Mrs. Watson (Kelly Reilly) and Sherly’s (Sherlock’s) brother, Mycroft Holmes – full frontally played by Stephen Fry. This side story was beautifully used to break up the pace of the action sequences and delivered on a few laughs as well. Holmes’ ridiculous disguises are also back which he claims are “so overt, it’s covert.”
"Which one of us is the fisherman and which the trout"
The mystery is not the important part of the game…the game itself is. As it plays out, the explanations of what’s going on get more and more ridiculous. I like to call this kind of storytelling feasible unbelievable. It’s outrageous but the dots connect so eh, just go with it. Again, if you’re a fan of the series, you’ll love this movie. If you haven’t seen the first or indifferent about it, try this one out…it’s a lot smarter and more gripping. It has all the great elements of the first one and tightens up the lacking parts. It’s fun, it’s fast, it’s action, it’s adventure – it’s elementary my dear.
Tags: Guy Ritchie, Jared Harris, Jude Law, Noomi Rapace, Rachel McAdams, Robert Downey Jr., Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Stephen Fry
Matthew Fong created advancescreenings.com and is the lead contributor. He watches every type of movie and will try almost anything twice. You can follow him on twitter here: @matthewfong
