Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
The Plot: Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson team up once again in Holmes' biggest case yet - they must stop Oxford don and criminal mastermind Moriarty from setting nation against nation and stopping the world from going to war. Bombings on the Continent, opium traders overdosing, high profile businessmen and politicians assassinated - all part of Moriarty's schemes to hold the market share over everything ever needed in such a world war: "from bombs to bandages". (Sounds like a James Bond plot-line? I thought so too.) Joined by Sizma and her band of gypsy henchmen, Sherlock Holmes comes face-to-face with his arch-nemesis in an elaborate game of strategy, cunning, and of course, deduction.
The Review: We went to see this at the cinemas and I think it's probably the best way to see it, even though we had to put up with a group of people behind us talking all the way through it - don't wait until it comes out on DVD, unless you have a great sound-system and huge TV, because the cinematography is fantastic (although nothing new). Like the first film in this series, the major fight scenes are choreographed in Holmes' head and then played out again, usually a lot faster, which is great because a lot of close-combat scenes in action films go to quickly, I feel most times that all the effort put into the moves is lost on the screen when the director wants a fast fight. The kind of detail that Holmes takes in is also emphasised in the way the film's edited - it's very CSI, with quick zooms into a speck of dust or a drop of blood somewhere, followed by a re-enactment of how that speck or that drop got there. It's all very sleek and magnificent and very fun to watch, a great action-adventure film. Robert Downey Jnr. and Jude Law are great as Holmes and Watson (but I won't say how good, because I am in no way a Conan Doyle scholar and wouldn't like to attempt a guess). I might have come away with a small crush on RDJ too.
There aren't many things going wrong with SH: A Game of Shadows - there are a few movie goofs that I spotted, one of them being in the train scene, where Holmes appears in drag as his disguise (shaven for authenticity), and at the end of that scene he appears with a three-day growth (that's a bit sloppy). And unfortunately, Stephen Fry appears as Stephen Fry as Sherlock's brother Mycroft, calling him 'Shirley' as Stephen Fry is probably wont to do. I say unfortunately because it would be nice if Stephen Fry could play someone other than himself for a change; it's as though he's wandered onto the set, oblivious to the fact that there's a fictional film happening around him, and gone about fitting himself in somewhere. And he's naked too in one scene, that's not pleasant. I share Roger Ebert's lament that the atmosphere of Conan Doyle's novels is lost to this film, in favour of a more modern action film style, but I think the dank, smoggy London of the books would be ill-placed in Guy Ritchie's mini-franchise. He notes the lack of reference to opiates, but if I remember rightly, there's a cocaine ring in the first film (although it isn't obvious). My biggest disappointment was the fact that the filmmakers chose to bring Moriarty in so early in the franchise - if he's Holmes' big meanie, wouldn't it make sense for them to save him for later?
In the end, SH: A Game of Shadows is a fun detective thriller-romp, a visual treat and has enough of a plot to keep one interested, although like many films of its ilk doesn't always connect the dots up coherently. Its fidelity to the Holmes canon is questionable but it's an aspect of the film that can be put to one side while you watch it. There are plenty of laughs and a few literally breath-taking moments (any time you know a bomb's about to blow up). There's even a pony in it!
Out of Five:
3 out of 5
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