Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, Noomi Rapace, Rachel McAdams, Jared Harris
Director: Guy Ritchie
Rating: 4/5
It has been two years since we saw Robert Downey Jr team up with Jude Law for the very first time - with great results I might add - so it doesn't come as any surprise that they are back for a sequel.
When the Crown Prince of Austria is found dead, the evidence points to suicide. But Sherlock Holmes deduces that the prince has been the victim of murder - a murder that is only one piece of a larger and much more portentous puzzle, designed by one Professor Moriarty.
Mixing business with pleasure, Holmes tracks the clues to an underground gentlemen’s club, where he and his brother, Mycroft Holmes (Stephen Fry) are toasting Dr. Watson on his last night of bachelorhood.
It is there that Holmes encounters Sim (Noomi Rapace), a Gypsy fortune teller, who sees more than she is telling and whose unwitting involvement in the prince’s murder makes her the killer’s next target.
Holmes barely manages to save her life and, in return, she reluctantly agrees to help him.
The investigation becomes ever more dangerous as it leads Holmes, Watson and Sim across the continent, from England to France to Germany and finally to Switzerland.
So often sequel fall way short of the original - I wouldn't go as far as to say that Game of Shadows is better but it certainly matches it's predecessor.
The main thing this time around is the movie is just bigger as the story takes Holmes and Watson out of Europe and on a whirlwind tour of Europe.
Downey Jr really has made this character his own as he brings charm as well as comedy to this role - he send himself up beautifully dressed as a woman; so few Hollywood actors are ready to take the piss out of themselves.
But it's his chemistry with Law's Watson that really drives the movie forward. They are more like a married couple than professional partners and it's this relationship that provides much of the humour.
They banter well together and there really is a deep seated friendship there despite driving each other up the wall.
Game of Shadows is a great action romp that will hook you from the very beginning until the end with some great action scenes.
They really are some of the best action scenes that I have seen all year - and Richie uses the slow motion sparingly but really to great effect; running through the trees really does work well.
I would liked to have seen more of Stephen Fry as Moorcroft, who has some great intellectual banter with Downey Jr, the naked scene is particularly funny.
Noomi Rapace is also an excellent addition to the cast list as Sim and it is great to see her making a very successful transition to American movies.
At just over two hours the movie does feel a tad long but it really is great fun from the beginning.
You can't help but get swept away in the action as well as the fun but it's Downey Jr and Law that really do make this film a huge success.
I smell a trilogy!!!
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is out now
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