Mediocre sequel

Rating: 4/10 (13 December 2017)

Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law return as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in the sequel Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. While I still maintain that the films would have been more enjoyable if the casting were reversed, the way each character is written is cemented even further in this second installment. Robert Downey Jr. is the eccentric detective, and Jude Law is the boring, superfluous straight man who's consistently annoyed by his partner's antics. The setting for this film is Jude Law's wedding to Kelly Reilly. In the art of storytelling, when a character is married the audience is usually supposed to see that his or her journey is complete and their usefulness to the plot is over. So, Jude Law's character is viewed as even more boring and superfluous!
As Jude and Kelly are supposed to be enjoying their honeymoon, the famed villain Moriarty, played by Jared Harris, attacks, leaving Bob to save the day, and leaving Jude to continuously complain that he'd rather be enjoying his wife than fighting bad guys. Still, if you liked the first film, Sherlock Holmes, you'll probably like the sequel. The action-comedies are pretty similar, and director Guy Ritchie returns with his slow-motion action scenes. These aren't my favorite Sherlock Holmes films, but they're not terrible either. I just would have preferred Jude Law as the lead.