SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS

Guy Ritchie’s follow up to 2009’s, hugely enjoyable Holmes escapade, is timed interestingly (coincidentally?) to arrive at almost exactly the same time as the BBC’s second series of Sherlock. Both movie and TV series are resoundingly enjoyable, both fun and interesting in their different interpretations; and this second outing for the Downey Jr / Law partnership is well worth a look.

Downey Jr’s Holmes is a Victorian action hero. If you read that on paper you would think it conceptually brainless, yet it carries itself with enough charm, panache and haughty swagger that you get fully on board with it.

This time around Holmes is tasked with facing off against his greatest adversary. A man whom in the intervening period since the last movie, Holmes has discovered is the focal point for virtually every dastardly crime going. Played by Mad Men’s Jared Harris, Professor James Moriarty is a magnificent bastard. In a superbly villainous turn, the greatest crime on show is his threat to run off with the movie. Some further inspired casting sees Stephen Fry appearing as Mycroft Holmes, providing comic relief and starched shirt pomposity in equal measure.

As the adventure takes them from a train bound for Brighton (woo!), to dense German forests, to the Swiss Alp finale, Robert Downey Jr and Jude law instill enough fun chemistry in it to make a jolly fun ride. Ritchie too, handles it all well despite threatening to overegg the slo-mo at times. It follows on well from the first movie and overall it’s a good, fun caper.

IMDB: Sherlock Holmes : A Game of Shadows