Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

I had decidedly mixed feelings about Guy Ritchie’s 2009 adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic series of novels featuring a certain master detective called Sherlock Holmes. On the one hand, I found the film to be a mostly enjoyable romp featuring a fun and charismatic central performance from Robert Downey, Jr., yet on the other I was frequently rolling my eyes at Ritchie’s bullet-time visuals and found myself disinterested in the plot far too often. Its sequel, “A Game of Shadows” is a different story; this time the plot is fully engaging from start to finish, contains nary a dull moment, and the bullet-time visuals, while still utilised a little too often, are slightly less grating.

“A Game of Shadows” sees Downey, Jr. proudly returning as the definitive detective of British literature, once again playing Holmes with a knowing eccentricity as he captures crooks, hunts for clues and throws an innocent lady off a moving train – it’s to save her life, I assure you. Jude Law also returns as Dr. Watson, Holmes’ straight-faced partner in mystery-solving and criminal-catching. However, Holmes and Watson’s long-lasting partnership is under threat, as Watson is due to be married to the beautiful Mary (Kelly Reilly, “Eden Lake”) – ever the selfish type, Holmes does not like this one little bit.

Together, Holmes and Watson must face their ultimate foe: Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris, “Mad Men”), a cold and callous lover of chess and killer of innocents. Using his yet-unchallenged skills of detection, Holmes discovers that Moriarty is up to some dodgy business involving assassination attempts and acts of terrorism; it soon transpires that Moriarty has evil plans to spark war in Europe, meaning Holmes and Watson must work together to prevent the collapse of western civilisation. “No pressure,” comments Holmes. Indeed.

“A Game of Shadows” is much bigger in scope than its predecessor; I suspect this was a very deliberate ploy by Ritchie and his writers to make the film feel more epic and grand like all sequels must be, although I must say it’s a ploy that works wholly in the film’s favour. While the first “Sherlock Holmes” was based entirely in the gorgeous setting of Victorian London, “A Game of Shadows” takes us on an adventure to France, Germany and finally snowy Switzerland for the nail-biting climax. What with all this casual continent-hopping, one almost feels as if the film is yet another “Bond” movie, albeit set in the late 19^th century and featuring homoerotic undertones – also, I’m sure Professor James Moriarty would prove himself to be a worthy adversary of 007.

Indeed, Moriarty is a magnificent villain, much stronger than the villainous Lord Blackwood from the previous film, that’s for sure. As with every appearance the character has made in print, TV and film, Moriarty is shown here to be Holmes’ equal; the two are intelligent, cunning and deep-thinking men who treat each other with a whole heap of mutual respect – they battle not with fists but with words, and also chess pieces. Harris plays Moriraty with a shark-eyed, stone-faced, cold-hearted menace that chills one to the bone, yet captivates entirely; he’s a wonderful actor and fits the role perfectly.

Downey, Jr.’s scenery-chewing performance is just as charming and appealing as it was in the previous film; he’s given Holmes an effectively unique personality, and makes “A Game of Shadows” very much his film and no one else’s. Saying that, Law makes for a splendid sidekick, this time given much more work to do, with Watson actually getting his hands dirty during the film’s wide assortment of action set-pieces. The constant banter between Holmes and Watson is also very entertaining, written with a high level of wit and humour; they’re an amusing pair and also have a very convincing “bromance” going on between them.

I mentioned the action set-pieces there; the film has a fair collection of them scattered throughout its 120-minute length, which may work only to annoy purist fans of Conan Doyle’s work. However, for those aware of the fact that Ritchie’s films are reinterpretations of the original books rather than authentic adaptations, these very cool and unashamedly stylish slices of over-the-top action are rather fun to behold. The most enjoyable set-piece is perhaps the one that takes place on a train during Watson’s honeymoon – at one point, Holmes and Watson end up lying on the floor of a carriage as bullets fly overhead, all while Holmes is dressed in women’s clothing, his face smothered with mascara and lipstick as he chews away on his trusty pipe. Brilliant.

“A Game of Shadows” is a substantially better film than its middling predecessor; it features a better villain, a better storyline and better set-pieces. It’s more exciting, more thrilling, more engaging and thus a more satisfying movie-going experience. And while it may very much piss off Conan Doyle purists, it works perfectly fine on its own terms as a big, silly, overblown pantomime – take notes, "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise.

7/10