Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Review

Rating: 6/10 (12 January 2012)

Sherlock Holmes (Dir. Guy Ritchie, 2009) was one of the movies that I most enjoyed in 2009 and I had been eagerly awaiting its sequel. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (Dir. Guy Ritchie, 2011) was however not the sequel I had anticipated.
A Hollywood film needs action scenes but Sherlock Holmes cleverly integrated narration and slow motion before a very fast paced fight scene so as to show Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) thinking before a fight, like Arthur Conan Doyle had written. However, the first action scene had no commentary. I was then filled with a sense of dread that there may be no narrated fight scenes at all; thankfully this was not the case. One of the best scenes in the film was the shared slow motion fight, between Holmes and Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris). This scene is narrated by both characters as they think out their fight before it actually happens, this scene is one of the only reasons people should see this film.
Yet another annoyance I had with the film was when Holmes and Dr. John Watson (Jude Law) were on screen. Their relationship in the first film was enjoyable and quirky to watch as they would often back chat and argue with one another in a comical way. In this film however they "comically argue" too many times to count. It soon became tedious to watch with the knowledge that when they next met each other there would be another round of quick fire remarks between the pair of them.
Unfortunately for Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows it is forced to contend with Sherlock (BBC,Writ. Mark Gatiss & Steven Moffat). The characters of Holmes and Watson, played by Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman in the TV series, are far superior to Downey Jr. and Law's creations. This could be part of the reason I didn't enjoy the film as much as I might have, as I now have Sherlock to compare Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows to.
One of the biggest surprises I had when watching Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows was the appearance of British icon and celebrity Stephen Fry as Holmes' brother, Mycroft. Although he doesn't resemble Downey Jr. in the slightest, Fry was still a pleasant surprise and provided a lot of comical relief and enjoyment in an otherwise dull first half.
The film did pick up in the second half, however, as Holmes and Watson left England for France, Germany and Switzerland. Noomi Rapace's character also featured a lot more in this half of the film. Rapace, who is most known for her performance in Män som hatar kvinnor (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Dir. Niels Arden Oplev, 2009), was disappointingly mediocre in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Her screen presence was so weak; her character might as well have not even been in the film. It seemed that she was solely there to appease complaints from female critics over the lack of female "heroes" within the film.
But even with the feeble character of, Madam Simza Heron (Noomi Rapace), the second half still propels the film forward with new locations and epic challenges for Holmes and Watson.
If you enjoyed the first film then this one is worth a watch, if only to see Sherlock and Moriarty compete. If, however, you haven't seen either I recommend checking out the first film before Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.