Director: Guy Ritchie
Cast: Robert Downey Jr. , Jude Law , Noomi Rapace , Stephen Fry , Jared Harris
Running time: 129 minutes approx
Certificate: 12A
Extras: Maximum Movie Mode Hosted By Robert Downey Jr., Picture In Picture, Storyboards, Focus Points, Stills Galleries
Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law are back as Holmes and Dr Watson in SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAMES OF SHADOWS, a follow-on from the 2009 hit… erm, SHERLOCK HOLMES. In that movie the famous English crime-fighting sleuths from Baker Street battled the evil Dr Blackwood (the brilliant Mark Strong). This time, Holmes and Watson take on perhaps the only person to match Holmes’ intellect: the infamous Professor James Moriarty, played by Jared Harris (most famous for his role in MAD MEN, and son of the legendary Richard Harris). The action switches from London to Europe, namely Switzerland, via France and Germany. Watson is about to marry and Holmes is investigating a number of terrorist attacks in London, while at the same trying to hide his emotions over ‘losing’ his long-time friend and partner to a new bride. As Holmes’ investigation progresses, we discover that fingers point towards English Professor Moriarty, whose motives may be leading to an all-out international war, with him supplying the ammunition.
I enjoyed the first SHERLOCK HOLMES movie. I didn’t love it, but I enjoyed the experience; very much how I feel about all of Guy Ritchie’s movies in general. I like quite a lot of his back catalogue, even some of his misfires like ROCKNROLLA and the previous REVOLVER, which while bloody awful, did have a few good moments buried somewhere within it. With the Holmes movies it seems like he has found a firm footing, sprinkling the Victorian story with a machine-gun style, and catching the attention of film-goers. A lot of people have a problem with the phantom ‘bullet time’ from the first film, but I didn’t. In fact, as one of the special features on this release reveals, the ‘Holmescam,’ as it is officially referred to, adds a realism to the fight scenes. Punches actually connect, and the actual actors are the ones throwing them at one another.
The problem with SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS is that it is all very much style over substance. Sure, the script is witty in places, and the dialogue generally well written, but you feel you’re just being led from set-piece to set-piece, with a few laughs thrown in between. There’s no depth to the story; in fact, there’s not much of a story at all, and in it’s actually confusing. It seems that Ritchie and the writers are saying ‘Right, we’re going to confuse you now, but in about ten minutes we’re going to come back and explain things… OK?’ They do that quite a lot. It’s annoying. Noomi Rapace is thrown in as a token female lead and is massively underused and pointless in the role of Sim, the gypsy who supposedly holds the key to exposing Moriarty’s plot. Stephen Fry adds some gravitas to the proceedings as Mycroft, but his scenes are few and far between…
Despite all that, I feel that it is a better film than the first one. Jared Harris is superb as Moriarty, Paul Anderson (last seen in British flick PIGGY) is menacing as his right hand man Colonel Moran, and I liked the chemistry between Downey and Law. The climactic face-off also works and is well put together. Ritchie definitely has a thing for chess.
To sum up, the film is kind of like a massive fireworks display. It’s loud, it goes bang, it makes you happy, you smile, you are mesmerised by proceedings, and you bloody well enjoy most of it. It’s when that final bang goes off and things fizzle away… all you’re left with is a mess and indeed a want for more. Instantly forgettable, but a blast while it’s on.
Special Features:
- Maximum Movie Mode Hosted By Robert Downey Jr.
- Picture In Picture
- Storyboards
- Focus Points
- Stills Galleries
The best part of the above features are the Maximum Movie Mode featuring Downey and the Focus Points, which amongst other things, goes into details about the use of the Phantom Cam and the aforementioned Holmes bullet time effects. Interesting to watch and good to see the amount of camera trickery Ritchie puts into his movies. I was saddened by a lack of a proper making of on-set doc like we saw on the SNATCH DVD a few years ago. Ritchie’s sets are notoriously fun to be on and that release just showed that through a superb behind the scenes piece featuring all of the cast messing around in the British countryside, including one Brad Pitt. Looks likes Ricthie’s all grown up as it’s all serious stuff on here. Good amount of features though… worth a look.
Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows is available on Blu-ray Triple play, DVD and digital download 14th May. Pre-order here
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