With a new take on Sherlock Holmes played by Robert Downey Jr., the first movie was definitely good enough to warrant a sequel.
A Game of Shadows got me excited to see what they could next and the potential of fixing a few problems I had with the first one. My main problem was the slightly confusing plot. Most of all, I was excited to see Professor Moriarty. He is the Joker to Sherlock’s Batman.
PLOT
The plot here is that Sherlock believes he is on his biggest case ever after following a series of crimes to one source- Professor James Moriarty. As always, he battles to save humanity.
THE GOOD
My general feeling about the movie was that it was good but it missed a few opportunities to have made it better.
Looking at the best things about the film, I enjoyed the bromance between Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. It was almost like a I hate to love you relationship. Generally not a fan of Jude Law but he plays Watson with a cool head and understands Sherlock better than most can.
The action was pretty enjoyable with enough explosions to keep you interested. What I liked most about them were camera angles. From a cool zoom out effect to get a feel of the speed and size of the set piece to the slow motion panning of some of the characters during intense action. It was different which I always like.
Even Sherlock’s ‘mind analysing’ trick he uses when fighting has some neat twists here. Not to spoil anything in the film if you haven’t seen it yet but his fight with Moriarty was really good and you’ll understand when you see it.
And that leads me to the best thing about the film- Moriarty played by Jared Harris. This guy looks friendly as a butterfly but he is a true sociopath. He is played so well and matches most of Sherlock’s moves. His face just looks evil and you can tell he is probably smarter than Sherlock.
And this leads to the bad.
THE BAD
I was kind of disappointed after finding out Moriarty’s goal. I was hoping it would have been something a lot deeper like a cobweb of psychotic schemes against humanity or the government. Anyways, that was my biggest disappointment. If there were more interactions in some way between Sherlock and Moriarty like the final sequence of the movie, the movie would be up another level.
Another disappointing point was the character Madam Simza who looks like she had a major role to play in the movie as she had some connection to Moriarty’s plan. Apart from her interesting introduction she had nothing else to do and was just being dragged along through the film. Wasteful if you tell me.
BOTTOM LINE
Even with its faults I still enjoyed it. If you read the books closely I doubt you might enjoy this adaptation, as there are few instances of mystery solving. If you don’t mind then it’s still a good watch.
