After the 2009 box office hit “Sherlock Holmes,” you just knew they were going to follow it up with a sequel. In “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” director Guy Ritchie and writers Michele and Kieran Mulroney raise the stakes
After the 2009 box office hit “Sherlock Holmes,” you just knew they were going to follow it up with a sequel. In “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” director Guy Ritchie and writers Michele and Kieran Mulroney raise the stakes with bigger action sequences, witty dialogue and disguises so absurd you can’t help but laugh out loud.
It’s the turn of the 19th century and Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) is working on unraveling one of his greatest mysteries. Bombs are exploding in public places, dignitaries are mysteriously dying and an air of revolution is sweeping across Europe.
In London, Dr. John Watson (Jude Law) has soundly retired his role as Holmes’ sidekick and is focusing on his impending nuptials with fiancé Mary (Kelly Reilly).
As best man, Holmes treats Watson to an evening at a gentleman’s club. Here, audiences meet two new characters — Holmes’ equally eccentric brother (Stephen Fry) and Madam Simza Heron (Noomi Rapace).
Simza’s in search of her brother, and Holmes deduces that he is wrapped up in the schemes of Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris).
With the Watsons’ wedding pitted against the chance to catch Moriarty, you can guess where Holmes’ focus goes, and Watson’s wedded bliss is cut short when the detective interrupts the honeymoon to force Watson out of retirement (the attempted murder helped, too).
While purists will be dismayed with the liberties screenwriters Michele and Kieran Mulroney have taken with Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels, everyone else will enjoy the Victorian gumshoe’s outlandish theories.
The film races through Europe using dreary film sets and over-the-top CGI for its action sequences (which are plentiful), but it’s the witty dialogue and interaction between Holmes and Watson that carry the film.
Fry as Holmes’ older brother adds some laughs, but Rapace falls flat as the female lead, a shame since she was captivating as the star in the Swedish version of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.” It wasn’t Rapace’s acting that was a disappointment, but her character is one-dimensional.
Like the first film, many of the action sequences are slowed down to explain Holmes’ thinking. It was fun the first few times, but overused in the two-hour-plus sequel.
Overall, the film is a treat to watch, rife with period costumes and imaginative set pieces that somehow bring “A Game of Shadows” in the 21st century.
129 minutes.
