Review 77: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is an amazing sequel in almost every way possible, plot, action, special effects, acting, villain, you name it. It literally blew me away,

When Austria's crown prince is found dead, evidence seems to point suicide. However detective Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) deduces the prince was murdered and that the crime is but a piece of a puzzle designed by Prof. James Moriarty (Jared Harris).
Holmes and his friend Watson (Jude Law), accompanied by a gypsy Simza Heron (Noomi Rapace) whose life was saved by Holmes, chase Moriarty across Europe in the hope that they can thwart his plot before it can come to fruition.

The plot is a terrific blend of action, mystery and adventure. To quote Roger Ebert: "It starts in mainstream and never looks back." It throws us as an audience into the middle of a completely new adventure.
The conflict between Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty is truly captivating. The equal each other out.

work of sheer genius, it begins in midstream, never looks back and then your thrown into the middle of this whole new The Dark Knight style adventure, I compare it to The Dark Knight due to the complexity of the plot, Jared Harris' performance which I will get onto later and the way it mirrors the personalities of Holmes and Moriarty, Moriarty is like a spiting mirror image of Shelock Holmes - he has the same intelligence, the same fighting style and the  and they equal each other out.

 its twists and turns around ever corner and it gets you thinking,

Returing director Guy Ritchie's direction is unobtrusive, the cinematography is stylish and captures the beauty of England, France and Switzerland in the late 1800's. The score by Hans Zimmer is  creepily thematic, the costume design is fabulous, the production design is spectacular, the actions are stylishly exciting and well choreographed (A Game of Shadows really stepped up the ante in the action department) the special effects are tremendous, the make up is rich, there are some brilliantly crafted scenes of suspense, the locations are beautiful and the ending was superb.

My only problem is that it is quite long.

The acting, once again, is excellent, Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law are at the top of their game playing Holmes and Watson, their chemistry and banter is still as infectious and palapable as ever and never gets old.

Noomi Rapace makes for a wonderful addition to the fiilm playing Simza Heron, 

Stephen Fry is also a fabulous addition playing Sherlock's brother Mycroft Holmes,

Kelly Reilly

Jared Harris is a simply sublime villain playing Prof. James Moriarty. What Guy Ritchie and the writers beautifully establish and immediately take advantage of is that by introducing Sherlock Holmes arc nemesis, they've pitted Holmes against a villain who challenges him not only physically but mentally and psychologically.

Sadly though, Rachel McAdams is unfortunately demoted to an extra in this sequel. She's is literally in this film for what amounts to a cameo that kick starts the films plot. 

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is an amazing sequel and lets hope that there will be a third film that's just as good, 4.5/5.

The Anonymous Critic