Same steampunkish perspective of books that were nothing like the sort

Rating: 7/10 (23 April 2012)

If you have seen the first installment of the franchise, you come with certain expectations. Well, those expectations are met in full, as A Game of Shadows has the same feel as the first film. Now, however, people cannot nag that this is supposed to be a prequel to Doyle's books and thus the youthful superhero stuff is not utter tosh, but some sort of smart reimagining. No, it is not. It's just special effects poured generously on a transparent thin copy of the original stories. Sherlock Holmes is extremely brilliant, but he doesn't even explain much what his deductions are. He barely has the time, since he is in gun fights and explosions half the movie.
The only reason I did not fail the film is the presence of Jared Harris, who we see more and more often in American productions such as Fringe or Mad Men and he is great in all of them. As things stand, I really wish they would resurrect Moriarty in the third part, rather than replace Harris with some nondescript villain.