An avid Sherlockian LIKES it

Rating: 9/10 (20 December 2011)

I think I've collected every radio, every film version of Holmes that there is... Wotner, Ronald Howard, even Stewart Granger's TV movie.
I have to admit I was less than satisfied with the first film. I found Downey's performance somewhat off-putting for the same reason that I found Jeremy Brett's earlier episodes a little challenging - too frenetic. I also found the style difficult. It took getting accustomed to the flashbacks and the "thought" segments... and rapid-fire video work.
The first film also had an implausible ending. However, this film, despite some faux-pas and inconsistencies, which I feel were done knowingly... to serve a film that was sort of "in-it-for-the-fun" rather than sticking to the canon or to history. It's good melodrama... in the way that the extreme Victorian stage melodramas could be so over-the-top as to be actually good fun.
Therefore, I can overlook things that were ahead of 1891. I must admit that the look of the period was right on. The ladies dresses were spot on for ca 1890, rather than a more 1900 look, which is a very easy error.
I'm also willing to allow Downey the deviation from Canon. Watson wrote in the Canon that Holmes was fastidious in his appearance, and cat-like.... tho' Holmes was not neat otherwise. Downey plays him consistently Bohemian. There is leeway... Doyle never really allowed us to see that "other" side of Holmes' life... that mysterious world of opium dens, Bow Street Runners, going undercover, disguises, boxing, fencing, etc. It is this secret side to Holmes' life that recent versions have made hay from.
What I actually really liked about this one was the foreshadowing of WW1... the munitions firms, anarchists, revolutionaries, sabre rattling. All of that was happening in the 1890s, but Queen Victoria and then Edward VII, kept the lid on by the fact that they were the senior members of a vast European Royal Family. The war waited until 4 years after Edward's death in 1910.
Moriarity's machinations were in keeping with the Canon.... and with real rumors that were circulating at the time... that the munitions barons, etc were exacerbating problems and, in fact, promoting war.
I find it an interesting pairing that "War Horse" was released at the same time... Despite their extreme differences... I would strongly urge people to see both films... within days of each other.
Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows lays a not too unreal groundwork, while War Horse will show the absolute futility of it all... the decimating of a generation of young men.... For what? All that WW1 really did was sell armaments and munitions.. and lay the groundwork for WW2, which laid the groundwork for the EuroZone... and today's problems.
The linkages in Sherlock's extreme melodramatic fiction to the realistic War Horse... to our present problems is somewhat intriguing.