Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows – A Game Worth Playing?

Details

Category: Cinemabuzz

Published on Thursday, 12 January 2012 15:28

Written by Jurmane

Guy Ritchie dazzles us again with the second dose of his take on the Sherlock Holmes franchise. Is it still a stroke of genius, or is the game better off not played?

Moviegoers have a certain level of expectation coming into the cinemas. After all, this is a sequel to the successful Sherlock Holmes (2009) and of course, the character Sherlock is an icon when it comes to fictional geniuses and detective work. Action-wise, this movie is good. Even though it was already done in the first offering, it was still exciting to see Sherlock calculate his moves during hand-to-hand combat before they even occur. However, those looking for a purely detective story will be disappointed. Sherlock is still portrayed as an eccentric man with incredible powers of observation and deduction, but it may be a bit overshadowed by his ability to break arms and ribs.

Comedy is one of the strongest elements in the movie. The banter of Holmes and Watson is fantastic and as funny as can be. Truly, their bromance is one of the best in recent pop culture history. They make the most mundane things ridiculously hilarious. The use of slow motion looked great in many parts of the movie, but at times, it felt it was used a tad too much (Yes, Forest Scene, I’m talking about YOU!).

Robert Downey Jr. delivers his own take on Sherlock Holmes, and that’s what makes him such a great and versatile actor. However, my personal favorite is still Jude Law’s Watson. Law has proven again that he has a funny bone and has the chops to pull off a character that is not in a romantic movie. I was looking forward to seeing Simza (Noomi Rapace), but there was something flat about the character. To some extent, I think I expected too much since Rapace is fresh from her performance as Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Still, I believe that Simza, much like Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams) in the first instalment, wasn’t all essential in A Game of Shadows. James Moriarty, played by Jared Harris, is a worthy adversary. Mark Strong’s Lord Blackwood was a piece of cake compared to what Sherlock had to face this time around. Moriarty is as diabolical as Holmes is tenacious. He sets off a plan that sends Holmes scrambling from one place to another. When two geniuses collide, you just can’t know what’s going to happen next.

In terms of attitude, I hear the character Sherlock is very different from the book and BBCs Sherlock, but I guess it would have been the only way to attract a wider audience. Besides, Robert Downey Jr. does whimsical Sherlock so well that you just get to enjoy watching him. In movie adaptations, not everything is taken from the source material anyway. No one really made a big fuss when in Spider-Man (2002), Peter Parker had natural webbing come out of his wrists while in the comic books, he uses web shooters. (Okay, so that may not have been the best comparison, but you get the point. Haha.) Characters may be interpreted differently, but as long as certain traits are still present, we need not worry too much.

At the time of this writing, it is a fact that A Game of Shadows’ predecessor opened better in the US Box Office. In his article at Box Office Mojo, Ray Subers suggests that the sequel’s marketing highlighted the same elements that made Sherlock Holmes a success, but it didn’t translate to sales since the franchise didn’t have such a strong fan base. However, I believe that altering an already effective formula is not a good idea and may have ended up alienating the people who made the first one a success. Why fix something when it’s not broken, right?

For a film that spans more than 2 hours, watching Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows didn’t seem too long for me. The last scene with Moriarty wasn’t all that, but overall, it was a fun adventure to be a part of. Is it going to be the best film of 2011/2012? Hardly. However, if you’re the type who loves crime-solving, witty dialogue, crazy antics and 19th century ass-kicking, then this should be at the top of your list.

Ray Subers article: http://boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3327&p=s.htm

Follow more of Jurmane's movie reviews over at Getting Soupy With Me!

• < Prev
• Next >