Not entirely sure...

Rating: 6/10 (26 December 2011)

Sherlock Holmes the game of shadows was a bit of a disappointment for me. Why? Well, the movie had a few errors, that I think failed to deliver the thrill and mysterious mood of the first movie.
The first movie had a modernized/different but effective approach to the super sleuth; at first the audience thinks that he is actually investigating a paranormal incident, but it all appears to be a hoax to re-capture the US. This added a great amount of mystery to the movie, we actually wondered what it would turn out to be. In the end, Holmes performs a good little monologue that sums it all up, and that was a great ending to a fair movie.
In this one however, the movie was lacking in some certain aspects. First of all, Watson was less of a character that we could relate to (although I relate more to Sherlock). He just stood there and complained a lot. (Just like Obi Wan did in the Phantom M-) why am I talking about Star Wars?
Anyway, back to Holmes. (Oh good) So, the character of Moriart-I'm sorry, Professor Moriarty was set up to be a very mysterious and dark character in the first film. I think he was revealed and humanized way to early in this movie. Although the performance by the actor was perfect, the character itself lacked the usual insanity/compulsion the original Moriarty character displayed. (By the way, did you notice that his voice was ENTIRELY different?)
Now, the mysteries and the way they were solved. In the first film, we see Holmes progressively putting the pieces together to reach a final and absolute conclusion. In this movie however, he solves them with such speed and efficiency, the audience gets no time to actually think & wonder, which is what I did a lot in the first film.
To further support this, I didn't even notice that two of the bad guys were meant to look like twins until Holmes pointed it out, which is really not a positive trait if you're filming a crime/mystery film.
See, there are two fatal mistakes that adventure movies can display.
1 - Making the main enemy forces completely ineffective (Battle Droids in the Star Wars prequels)
2 - Making the characters too efficient and hasty
This movie displayed no 2. The main point in this film was the adventure and the characters, which is a thing for adventure movies. Crime/Mystery films must be based on a very complicated plot and surprising twists, which I think this movie lacked.
Don't misunderstand me, I didn't hate this movie. I think it was a pretty decent adventure film. But if you're actually looking for a crime-based, investigative Sherlock Holmes, you're out of luck.
By the way, the ending was excellent. Really.