Worst than the first part.

Rating: 5/10 (16 January 2013)

To start I must say I had absolutely no interest in watching the first Sherlock Holmes film starring Robert Downey Jr., judging by the trailers the film appeared to be simply another Hollywood blockbuster that would fill the screen with action scenes and visual effects with no other goal than making money. Visiting the theater with my family I couldn't avoid finally watching it and I was surprised and satisfied, indeed it was a movie made only to have a good time, but it turned out to be quite entertaining and a nice homage to the original character.
With this in mind I went to see Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows expecting an equally good entertainment, but this time I was disappointed: the action scenes happen to often and are way to exaggerated, there are too many of the slow motion scenes present in many Guy Ritchie films, and the supporting characters did not arouse my interest.
This last point is were the movie disappointed me the most, Noomi Rapace character seemed completely failed to me, she had no chemistry with Robert Downey and I never had a reason to care for her, if she had been killed or disappeared at any time I wouldn't have cared at all. This is an absolute contrast with the Irene Adler of the first film, a very nice character played by Rachel McAdams, her love/rivalry relationship with Holmes was one of the best things in the first part, it was a real shame to see Irene die in the first scene and with her that well developed sometimes kinky, sometimes comical and sometimes romantic relationship thrown away; Noomi Rapace was great as a tough woman in the Millennium trilogy, but she should look for a different character and avoid doing the same every time, here she didn't do it very well.
Regarding the action scenes, both the part were the bad guys try to kill Watson in a train, and the chase and shooting in the German forest were waaay too much, and in the last case it was even tiresome; I was just wishing they would get over with the slow movement that led nowhere, but it just kept going and going, there's no need to abuse a cinematographic resource.
One final complaint I have has to do with the final scene, while Holmes is playing a chess game with Moriarty, Dr. Watson and the Gypsy (Rapace) are trying to find a hidden secret agent who will commit a murder that will start a war, the problem here is that in the same room they are joined by Mycroft Homes, and as any Sherlock fan knows he is one of the most brilliant minds there are, eclipsing even his brother. It is simply inexplicable that he would simply wait for other to catch the agent when his observation skills would have solved everything quicker and with more certainty than Watson, it is natural that Jude Law and Rapace, as two of the main characters, should be the ones to play that important role, but the writers should have find a way to keep Mycroft out of the room in order to avoid the nonsense of his passive waiting.
After this complaints it's time to mention the good points of the movie, first the relationship between Holmes and Watson works as well as in the first film and both Downey and Law give good performances, also I'd like to notice the work of Kelly Reilly, she plays Watson's wife and, in the absence of a good female character in the lead, she becomes the one that gives the relationship between the two main characters its best moments.
Another good part is the ending of the movie where Holmes and Moriarty fall down a waterfall to their apparent death. Those who know the character not only through movies, but also from the books will know that Conan Doyle killed Holmes that way because he was fed up with writing his adventures; however years later he was forced to bring him back due to the constant and never ending fan mail demanding him to continue the stories. In a genius nod to that fact, at the end of this picture Holmes appears alive and avoiding detection he writes a question mark after the words "the end" just typed by Watson in his memoirs, this way we are made to understand that, if their fans ask for it just as hundreds of readers did with Conan Doyle this Sherlock Holmes will also return. It is a very clever detail in the script, but I'm afraid (and I hope I'm wrong) that the people that will enjoy this film the most will not notice this smart reference at all.
This good things must be mentioned and recognized, but in my opinion none of them is enough to save a film that left me with no desire to see a third part: If you enjoy any blockbuster Hollywood releases or if you are absolute fans of Guy Ritchie you will enjoy this, but if you are looking for good cinema and something more meaningful avoid it. For me this Holmes can finish his days falling down that waterfall.