Maybe not the way a Sherlock Holmes adventure was originally intended to play out but still a lot of fun!

Rating: 8/10 (3 March 2012)

'SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS': Four Stars (Out of Five)
Robert Downey Jr. reprises his role as, the most famous detective from literature and movies, Sherlock Holmes (created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle). Jude Law returns as his partner Doctor Watson and Guy Ritchie once again directs (2 years after the immensely popular updated original). Rachel McAdams reprises her role as Sherlock's loves interest Irene Adler, in a cameo, and Jared Harris, Stephen Fry and Noomi Rapace (the original 'GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO') also join the cast this time around. The movie is complete chaos and extremely hard to follow but it's also got a lot of great thrills and energy. I can't imagine this new Sherlock Holmes being very faithful to the original (which I know little about) but these movies are definitely entertaining in their own right.
This chapter is based on Conan Doyle's 'The Final Problem' but only loosely. It revolves around the marriage of John Watson to the love of his life Mary (Kelly Reilly). When Holmes learns that his archenemy Professor Moriarity (Harris) might try and harm Watson and his new wife, to get back at Holmes, Sherlock must of course involve the good doctor in his adventures once again. The two team with Madam Simza Heron (Rapace) who's on a mission to find and save her brother, Rene (Laurence Possa), who's involved in a international conspiracy to start a world war with Moriarity (in order to gain a profit from it). It's up to Holmes, Watson and Heron to save Europe and the rest of the world.
There's so much going on in this movie and it's so fast paced that it's almost impossible to keep up with. This left me a little frustrated, to say the least, for a large percentage of the movie. Still Downey and Law are once again fantastic, as well as the rest of the cast, and Ritchie's directing is at it's stylized best. Even though I didn't completely know what was going on for most of the movie I still enjoyed it. It's definitely very funny and action packed. Maybe not the way a Sherlock Holmes adventure was originally intended to play out but still a lot of fun.
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