Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Welcome to another episode Lights....Camera....Popcorn!

Today's review is Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.

Directed by Guy Ritchie.

Written by Michele & Kieran Mulroney.

Based on characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Review #149

MPAA Rating:  PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and some drug material.

Runtime: 129 min

Cast

Robert Downey Jr. ... Sherlock Holmes

Jude Law ... Dr. John Watson

Noomi Rapace ... Madam Simza Heron

Rachel McAdams ... Irene Adler

Jared Harris ... Professor James Moriarty

Stephen Fry ... Mycroft Holmes

Paul Anderson ... Colonel Sebastian Moran

Kelly Reilly ... Mary Watson

Geraldine James ... Mrs. Hudson

Eddie Marsan ... Inspector Lestrade

William Houston ... Constable Clark

At this time last year we were introduced to a new breed of super hero. Sherlock Holmes. Some of you may debate the super hero label but make no mistake. Sherlock Holmes is a super hero. What defines a super hero? The official definition plays too much to comic books and cartoons so I'll define it myself.

Superhero - Someone who possesses extraordinary abilities beyond that of the normal populace.

If you go by this logic then Sherlock Holmes was the ultimate superhero because he was grounded in reality. His power was his uncanny ability to out think the out thinkable. It didn't hurt that he was a bad ass fighter too boot. This is what Guy Ritchie's 2010 Sherlock Holmes gave us. An entertaining and refreshing look at the ever popular detective. Of course the success of the first meant naturally that a sequel was on the way.

Does this one live up to the reputation it's predecessor set?

Plot


Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick Dr. Watson join forces to outwit and bring down their fiercest adversary, Professor Moriarty.

If you recall the end of the first film. It obviously sets up the premise of this new entry to the franchise. This time Sherlock is matched up against someone of equal intelligence in the form of Professor James Moriarty. It's here where the film excels. It was a lot of fun watching these 2 savants goat at each other tooth and nail. Each man at one point would best the other and so on and so forth. This rivalry was well crafted and executed by Downey Jr. Jared Harris and Guy Ritchie. The fact that Holmes was up against someone who could match him with wits was a nice change up to the first film. There was no real sense of failure on Holmes' part because everyone else in the film including Watson was not on his level.

With that not being the case here Holmes was broken. In fact the journey his character takes against Moriarty is quite akin to how The Joker tore Batman down in The Dark Knight. The seemingly unbeatable was in fact fallible. It was a dark turn for a very popular literary character whose exploits fare more on the adventure side. Speaking of adventure. There was quite of it and it was rather impressive and entertaining. We get more of Holmes rather stylish sleuthing, mixed with some pretty good fight choreography. Ritchie employs his trademark over cranked footage cut sharply between live takes to give that bullet time look only on steroids. He's used that style in many of his films and it's served him very well. It gets the job done nicely here and it's not overused.

This was the good. Here's the not so good.

This film impresses and entertains with it's 2 main characters. That of course is a great thing. The problem is the need to have other characters essential to the mythology be present to contribute to the narrative. The other characters including Watson weigh the film down. Their only purpose is to be around for Holmes to protect or save. Noomi Rapace's character is a waste of time. Her only reason for existence is to play exposition girl. That's really too bad because such a talented woman doesn't deserve to play 3rd or 4th fiddle to anyone. The reintroduction of old characters coupled with the addition of new ones also inflate the film's run time. At a shade over 2 hours, it plays a lot longer than that. This is the film's biggest problem. It's not an over saturation of characters like in say Spiderman 3. But it was getting close. Fortunately that was avoided.

Just barely.

On the 5 star scale. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows gets 3 stars with a "Go See It!" recommendation.

That's a wrap for today. Up next is The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

I have been looking forward to this one since I heard that Fincher was directing it. I can't wait to see how he manages to make this film his own since the Swedish version was so amazing. More importantly, this upcoming review will be my 150th.

I finally made my goal for the year. 50 films. And not soon enough as we approach 2012.

Until Next Epiode...."I'll Save You A Seat!"

"D"