 Robert Downey Jr. reprises his role as the world's most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, and Jude Law returns as his friend and colleague, Dr. Watson, in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Sherlock Holmes has always been the smartest man in the room - until now. There is a new criminal mastermind at large - Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris) - and not only is he Holmes' intellectual equal, but his capacity for evil, coupled with a complete lack of conscience, may give him an advantage over the renowned detective. Around the globe, headlines break the news: a scandal takes down an Indian cotton tycoon; a Chinese opium trader dies of an apparent overdose; bombings in Strasbourg and Vienna; the death of an American steel magnate - No one sees the connective thread between these seemingly random events - no one, that is, except the great Sherlock Holmes, who has discerned a deliberate web of death and destruction. At its center sits a singularly sinister spider: Moriarty. Holmes' investigation into Moriarty's plot becomes more dangerous as it leads him and Watson out of London to France, Germany and finally Switzerland. But the cunning Moriarty is always one step ahead, and moving perilously close to completing his ominous plan. If he succeeds, it will not only bring him immense wealth and power but alter the course of history. Storyline: Sherlock Holmes and his longtime trusted associate, Doctor Watson, take on their arch-nemesis, Professor Moriarty, with the help of Holmes' older brother Mycroft Holmes and a gypsy named Simza. Written by ABID NAZIR Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Kenneth Brown, June 6, 2012 If you're as addicted to the BBC's excellent Sherlock series as I am, director Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows will prove woefully inadequate. If you've never watched a single episode of Sherlock, though, Ritchie's Game of Shadows will prove... mildly inadequate. More action-packed, bullet-riddled, convoluted and over-the-top than the first Robert Downey Jr./Jude Law Holmes/Watson team-up, the sequel ups every ante imaginable, often to its detriment. Ritchie and company all but forsake Arthur Conan Doyle's original detective stories and re-purpose Holmes as a spinning, grinning, gunslinging martial arts master, leaving one to wonder why Ritchie didn't replace good sir Robert with Jackie Chan. Gone too is much of Sherlock's deductive wiles, replaced by even more voracious wit, silly disguises and butt-of-the-joke comedy. Mysteries unravel with nearly nonsensical complexity too, clues take a back seat to whatever furious fisticuffs lie in wait around the next corner, and Moriarty, Holmes' great nemesis, is the only real scene-stealer to be had. Oh, it's all wildly entertaining, in a brainless summer blockbuster sort of way. But it misses the mark again and again, muddying the waters with wall-to-wall action, abandoning reason with rapidfire flashbacks and impossible logic puzzles, and tossing aside almost everything that makes the Steven Moffat-run BBC series an accessible cerebral thrill-ride and Ritchie's first Sherlock Holmes, flawed though it may be, a fun, popcorn-fueled diversion. Dogged detective Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr., The Avengers, Iron Man) finally meets his match in Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris, Mad Men, Fringe), this time in the light of day, face to face, intellect to intellect, even fist to fist. Moriarty, growing tired of the perpetual cat and mousing, steps out of the shadows and devotes himself to taking Holmes out of the equation. Rather than come at his adversary head on, though, the murderous professor targets Sherlock's companion Dr. Watson (Jude Law, Hugo, Contagion) and his fiancé, Mary Morstan (Kelly Reilly, Triage, Eden Lake). Of course, Moriarty has his eyes set on a bigger, grander prize and it falls to Holmes and Watson to figure out the madman's endgame. With the help of a feisty gypsy named Simza (Noomi Rapace, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Sherlock's brother Mycroft (Stephen Fry, Alice in Wonderland, V for Vendetta), landlady Mrs. Hudson (Geraldine James) and bumbling do-gooder Inspector Lestrade (Eddie Marsan, The Illusionist, The Disappearance of Alice Creed), Holmes and Watson race to uncover Moriarty's devious plot and stop him from bringing Europe, and the world, to its knees. The particulars of the mystery at the heart of A Game of Shadows is completely secondary to the razzle dazzle visuals and punch-drunk action of Ritchie's whirlwind detective yarn. Style trumps substance for a whiz-bang hour and a half, redeemed only by an invigorating, smartly paced third act that delivers a more intriguing adaptation of Doyle's stories (chief among them "The Final Problem") and a more satisfying battle of the wits; one that doesn't involve dispatching dozens of henchmen, being caught in a shootout on a train, or fleeing from an entire battalion of heavily armed troops. It's in that third act too that Downey Jr. and Law are finally, finally given a chance to sink their teeth in. No pithy barbs for pithy barbs' sake, no curly wigs or cheesy stage beards (well, perhaps one), no inconceivably advanced martial arts zaniness; just well crafted, character-driven chess gamemanship that's more Holmes-n-Watson than anything that comes before it. Come to think of it, the only constant in the film is Harris. The perfectly nefarious antithesis of the great detective, Harris' Moriarty is a villain's villain, staying one step ahead of Sherlock till the very end, besting Holmes again and again and again. Harris convinces, not just as a twisted professor with a staggering intellect, but as a megalomaniac hellbent on manipulating major world powers to his whim. His scenes come as a reprieve from all the visual rambunctiousness, and he seems the only actor at peace with cooing his lines rather than spitting them out with increasing intensity. Moriarty's intensity lies in his cold, deliberate certainty, and his hubris and frightening insightfulness hangs in the air like a thick London fog. Kieran and Michele Mulroney's script can be as baffling and overwhelming as Sherlock's problem-solving montages, and often just as difficult to follow. The gypsies are extraneous; a dull means to an unnecessary end that wastes Rapace and mucks up the works. Reilly, Hudson or even Rachel McAdams (unceremoniously dismissed from Ritchie's two-movie adaptation in the opening minutes of the sequel) would have been a far more interesting female tag-along, and made the stakes that much higher for Holmes and Watson. In fact, most of the characters in A Game of Shadows are squandered. Inspector Lestrade and Mrs. Hudson are MIA for most of the film, Mycroft is relegated to exposition, nudist sight gags and comic relief, and Reilly's Mary Morstan is fantastic... for the whopping ten minutes she's on screen. Worse, the story they inhabit sometimes amounts to a disjointed, discombobulated mess. Still, it all comes down to expectation. If you're expecting a blazing blockbuster crammed with 'splosive action, slapdash comedy and slow-mo jaw punches, the Sherlock Holmes sequel won't disappoint. If you're hoping for something as sharply penned or cunning as Steven Moffat's Sherlock series, you'll shake your head, cross your arms and demand Ritchie's head on a platter. And if you have great affection for Doyle's original stories, brace yourself for a beating. A Game of Shadows is fun and frivolous, with a terrific third act that saves it from its own self-important smugness, but don't think too hard. Thinking won't get you anywhere. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows isn't a bad film or a failed sequel. It just takes a few too many steps in the wrong direction; an action-oriented path that, if followed any further, will only lead Holmes and Watson to ruin. There's still plenty of fun to be had in Ritchie's entertaining romp, but fans of Doyle's original stories or Steven Moffat's excellent BBC series would be wise to lower their expectations. Fortunately, Warner's Blu-ray release is more rewarding thanks to a strong video presentation, a pound-for-pound DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track, and a decent collection of extras. Chances are you've already deduced how you'll react to A Game of Shadows. Buy or rent accordingly. Cast Notes: 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), Wolf Kahler (Doctor Hoffmanstahl), Iain Mitchell (Auctioneer), Jack Laskey (Carruthers), Patricia Slater (Shush Club Maitre D'). IMDb Rating (12/04/16): 9.2/10 from 527,046 users IMDb Rating (06/08/16): 8.2/10 from 19,022 users
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