Only Holmes could have understood a story such convoluted (web)

Rating: 4/10 (12 October 2013)

In short, everything was good ... except the story, which is a bit annoying for a character that lives for that.
In other words, the cast was good (a unusual time when Law is watchable), the production has stunning visual as we take a European tour in XiXth , and Zimmer's score was perfect but all those efforts fail to produce something really captivating.
Unlike SH1, this sequel has a very dull and long beginning and really no direction: it's a succession of events not really tied together. For a genius detective, Holmes appears finally like a sort of Robocop, always programming fights with tugs and not really solving cases. However it was funny to see that like the video game, Holmes used red lines to have deduction.
Then, it's an endless babbling interlude about Watson's wedding and an useless train fight! The Parisian adventure is plagued by absurdity as the bad Moriarty (that lacks the charisma of Marc Strong in SH1) has to kill someone in a room that he makes explode! The German passage is another boring fight session and I had to wait the final in Switzerland to get at last a tense criminal thriller. It's not a surprise thus that Noomi hasn't really the opportunity to shine: her best moment is her introduction because the way she says "'i'm Madame Zimza" is really charming!
By expanding the scope of an European playground and run after a big conspiracy, Holmes loses his originality all along and this sequel appears more like a James Bond movie done by gaslight!