Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
If you didn’t like the first Sherlock Holmes in 2009, this one won’t change your mind. It’s fine not to like these movies, but your reason better not be that it’s too far removed from what Sherlock Holmes is supposed to be. In the books, Holmes was not averse to action. He did like to box. He did indulge in suspicious substances. He was a bit of a weirdo. So these movies are a valid take on the character–Holmes doesn’t have to always be a stuffy old man with a cape and pipe.
The latest chapter follows the events of the last movie. Not immediately, but perhaps a few months later. Watson is about to be married and Holmes is none too pleased. Using the excuse of a new case to ignore the nuptials, Holmes drags Watson with him into a new adventure, this time involving his greatest nemesis from the stories–Professor James Moriarty, played by Jared Harris.
Because the enemy has been upgraded, so has the scope of the story. Instead of just London, they travel to several other locations in Europe, giving this a more epic feel. The location of the big finale has a certain feature that will be immediately recognizable to people with knowledge of the Holmes vs. Moriarty story.
Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law are just as good as they were before. Downey’s Holmes is eccentric to the point of crazy, yet always knows what he’s doing. Watson is exasperated, but still loyal and capable, seemingly not wanting to give up adventures, even while very much wanting to be stable for his new wife. Harris as Moriarty is great too. Menacing underneath, but implacable on the surface. I truly wish that his character had developed over the course of 2 movies, just so we could see his “evil mastermind” persona grow.
The parts everyone liked best last time have been amped up here, particularly Holmes’ ability to see the fights before they happen. They use that trick again here, with at least one great new twist to it. The action scenes in general are very fun. They also tend to goose the detecting scenes by having Holmes figure things out by “seeing” in flashback what happened. This makes it very easy for the audience to follow, although I do wish there was maybe more of an overall mystery, instead of a series of small ones that Holmes seems to figure out quickly. The music is again good, building off the stellar original score last time by Hans Zimmer.
While I truly enjoyed this, it might suffer a bit from putting too much into a single movie. Holmes’ brother Mycroft, a new female lead, Watson’s nuptials, and a much grander villainous scheme by Sherlock’s greatest enemy are all great ideas, but they need more time to breathe. Cutting out the brother (even though he’s funny), or stretching the Moriarty story over 2 movies would have helped this. These drawbacks aren’t enough to stop me from recommending this to anyone who liked the first one though. It’s a great choice for anyone to see over the holidays.
