Trick of the Mind

Rating: 8/10 (8 January 2012)

For those of you that haven't watched the first Sherlock Holmes it really does not matter. I am always effie about big box sequels because they are never really better than the first. However, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is remarkably so much more exciting and smart than its predecessor and it made me laugh a ridiculous amount.
The plot takes part months after the first movie, where Dr.John Watson (Jude Law) is about to marry his fiancée Mary (I must warn you that I had the most suspicious feeling about this "wife" character and indeed she does play a pivotal role in the movie) and Inspector Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr) to be his best man and to throw his best friend and partner in solving crimes a stag party. Of course being Sherlock Holmes, he has other obsessions on his mind.
Where this party takes place we get to meet the lovely Madame Simza, (played by a lovely and very bohemian Noomi Rapace, the Swedish superstar known for the Original Swedish version of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo")and even though she has little dialogue in the film she goes along for the ride and stunts with the boys.
This movie introduced Professor James Moriarty who is the complete duplicate of Holmes, if Holmes was evil and out to cause mass destruction. This adversary is perfect because whatever mind trick Holmes plans on executing, Moriarty is one step ahead of him. It's so smart to see how both characters think and play around with each other.You are thrown for a loop and at moments when you think one character has the upper hand the tables are turned. You really don't know who survives until the very end.
This movie was so much fun, there was enough action and aerobatics that made the first Sherlock Holmes movie exciting and successful but always an equal amount of humour and cleverness for the fans of the old school Holmes. This movie was like a chess board. Never knowing you're opponent's move until it's done or when only a few chess pieces are left can you try to piece it together, but this movie has never once confirmed my predictions for what's going to happen next.
Bravo Holmes and we must really ask the question: The End?