Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)

In 7 words or less: More plot, characters and tomfoolery, less fun?

What's it all About? Some uni prof wants to start a world war so he can profit from selling guns and bandages. Holmes tries to stop him.

Best bits? Slow motion is perhaps the most overused facet of modern cinema and most of it is the pits. Here, we get to witness skills of master of slo-mo artist, Guy Ritchie. The escape from the German munitions factory, through the forest is fantastic, with trees splintering and bombs exploding around our heroes ears.

They're clever, these lot

Holmes being an over the top combination of Columbo, Poirot, Hannibal Smith and MacGyver is both highly stupid and deeply satisfying all at the same time.

"We must stop meeting like this."

Did it make you think thoughts? Yes. I liked the first Sherlock flick and had high hopes for this second incarnation. The script is cracking, the acting great on all fronts, the banter between Holmes and Watson is smile inducing and the scenery and set pieces are immaculate. Also, my one fault with the previous effort was that at times the sound production was terrible. This largely occurred when Downey Jr launched into a particularly quick speech in and I found it hard to understand what he was saying. That has now been rectified and the sound is crisp and clear.


However, and I say that with some trepidation as I really wanted to give this top marks, there are some short comings. The first is that it takes too long to get going and has a very flabby middle section. Whist in the cineplex, I noticed some random teens wander in and take a seat about an hour into the film. They had no doubt scuttled in through the fire exit and under the feature hiding power of their hoodies had slipped into a 'free' showing of Sherlock. The point is that even coming in an hour late they could have easily caught up with the main plot (which hadn't even really been introduced at that point) and still enjoyed the movie.

Secondly, the hand-to-hand fight scenes, of which there aren't that many actually, feature lightening fast editing that makes it difficult to see what is happening.

Thirdly, the character of Moriarty is played sublimly by Jared Harris and deserves more screen time.

Spot of QI anyone?

Would you watch it again? Of course. I liked it and didn't really have any major complaints apart from the timing issues.

Rating (out of 100%) On reflection, it strikes me that this really does have the feel of a two part tv drama rather than a Hollywood feature film. That's not a bad thing, but something for Ritchie to think about in the future.....assuming he visits this site....which I'm sure he does.....and if he doesn't, why not? Anyway, I give Sherlock Two, a riddle solving 80%