Sherlock Holmes has been all the rage in recent years. There’s been the outstanding modern adaptation done by the BBC and there’s also been the big-budget outings on the big screen.The 2009 Sherlock Holmes movie was directed by Guy Ritchie. It was actually a really good film, Guy Ritchie’s best by far! It starred Robert Downey Jr as Sherlock and Jude Law as Dr Watson. Even though Downey Jr is an American, this isn’t an issue as he captures the pompous British accent that’s perfect for the Sherlock character quite brilliantly.
Well now Guy Ritchie has returned with the second instalment Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and it’s even better than the first.
Why was it better? Well, for many reasons really, the main one being the villain. In the first movie the antagonist was Lord Blackwood, played by Mark Strong, and though there was nothing wrong with him, in fact he was a really good villain, the antagonist in the new instalment is James Moriarty; THE Sherlock Holmes antagonist.
Moriarty in A Game of Shadows is done brilliantly. He’s depicted as Sherlock’s equal, only of course he uses his intelligence for criminal activity while Sherlock used it for stopping such criminal activity. That’s how Sherlock and Moriarty should be: a top professor versus a top detective in a tip-top battle of wits.
Moriarty respects Sherlock, he knows that his intellect matches his own and he enjoys pitting his wits against him. That’s how it was in the books and that’s what Guy Ritchie’s portrayed here. The BBC adaptation didn’t really fully achieve this. In their version Moriarty wasn’t even a professor; he was just a common crime lord who’s only apparent aim is just to prove that he’s better than Sherlock. In the end the whole equality theme between the two doesn’t really transpire. Sherlock and Moriarty are two sides of a coin; one isn’t smarter than the other!
Action hero.
A Game of Shadows builds upon the first movie brilliantly. It has all the slow motion Holmes-vision where Sherlock plans out his actions in say, a fight scene; it has the humour of the last one; and of course the action.
It’s safe to say that Guy Ritchie’s version of Sherlock Holmes has been the most action-packed to date. The first one had plenty and the second has not disappointed in living up to it. Having action in Sherlock Holmes might be strange to some people, but in fact the character of Sherlock was quite an action hero. He was a master of fist-fighting and would often find himself in fisticuffs with a baddie or two. Downey Jr’s depiction portrays this a few times in both movies.
There are also those slow motion scenes Guy Ritchie loves so much, capturing facial expressions a plenty in close up after close up. Alright, he may have overdone it a little in the second movie but I’m not going to have a go at him for that.
Elementary my dear Watson.
Also captured brilliantly by Ritchie is the relationship between Holmes and Watson. Rarely has an adaptation of Sherlock Holmes really got the relationship between the two right but these movies and the BBC series have managed to do it really well.
In the BBC series Martin Freeman plays the smart and sarcastic Watson and Benedict Cumberbatch plays the overly arrogant but equally witty Sherlock. They have a good relationship and I equally like the depiction of the pair in the movies, where their bantering friendship emerges even more than it does on the Beeb.
Holmes is possibly too arrogant in the BBC series, although it’s usually done to comic effect, the same can be said of the Robert Downey Jr version. The movie version of Sherlock is just that bit more likable though, perhaps because of the chemistry between Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr being so great. Whatever they’re doing, in whatever scene, it’s just so much fun. They are a double act; one character couldn’t work without the other to bounce off.
Both Downey Jr and Law get up to plenty of mischief in this movie. Whether it be Sherlock dressing up as a woman to save Watson’s life and wife; Sherlock’s fear of horses; or the mad detective constantly disguising himself as his surroundings (a curtain or chair perhaps) and ‘killing’ Watson.
Another new character brought into the second instalment is Sherlock’s brother Mycroft Holmes, played by Stephen Fry. He’s depicted as an eccentric and strange man in this version, but in being so he is hilarious. One scene sees him wandering around his mansion stark naked and bumping into Watson’s rather surprised wife. Stephen Fry really is a gem.
And if you’re wondering about the whereabouts of Irene Adler in A Game of Shadows, she is in it, if only for a short while. It’s probably for the best as she was a little weak in the first movie and the second instalment definitely improves without her. I’m not sure what it was about her, but she never really felt like an integral character in the first one. I think if the BBC adaptation is going to win on one count it’d be for its portrayal of Irene Adler.
So overt it's covert.
The story to A Game of Shadows is good too, it doesn’t get boring and as you’d expect from a Sherlock movie everything he does has some bearing on the story. Action, comedy and detective drama is all moulded together superbly.
This is obviously the grandest depiction of the consulting detective, and with it being a big Hollywood movie there’s obviously a bit of green screen and CGI thrown into the mix. Sometimes stuff like this can overshadow a movie or deviate the audience from the actual characters on screen, but that isn’t the case here.
The CGI although big and spectacular, is purely supplemental to the cast and does a great job in enhancing the story and making the action scenes some of the best I’ve seen this year. Okay so Jude Law is mostly computer generated, but you don’t really notice it much… only kidding.
And I can’t finish a review on the film without mentioning the soundtrack. Hans Zimmer has produced a score that is just as good as the first if not better! Whether it be the charismatic Holmes theme that finds itself woven through much of the movie or the classic hard hitting Zimmer pieces in the action scenes, it really is something quite special.
After all is said and done, A Game of Shadows really is a great watch; I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s got everything the first movie had and it’s built on it even further. I’m now looking forward to the third chapter of the series, how will it compare? Who will be the villain? Will Moriarty be there? No amount of sleuthing will tell us right now, so I suppose we’ll have to wait and see.
Final Verdict: 4 Stars. A funny, action-packed detective story. Elementary really.
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