I finally made it down to the theater to see the Sherlock Holmes sequel A Game of Shadows and was once again pleased with the results; but a word of caution: if you are not up to date on your history, you made find the plot a bit confusing.
Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) and Watson (Jude Law) seem to be parting ways as the good doctor prepares for his upcoming nuptials and Holmes is clearly irritated by the situation. After a drunken stag party, Watson ties the knot and jumps a train with his wife in an attempt to take their honeymoon (an attempt is the key word); but Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris from Mad Men) has other ideas. He puts a hit on Watson and his wife while on the train and a wild shoot out goes down with Holmes (disguised as a woman) right in the middle of it. Watson is sucked backed in and the game is “afoot.”
The plot revolves around a group of anarchist who are bombing institutions in 1891 Europe in effort to start the “Great War” (World War 1). Moriarty has bought up all the arms and bandages and expects to profit greatly from the chaos, but Holmes will have none of it. A peace summit in Switzerland is arranged and Moriarty has planned an assassination at the event that he expects will spark off the war (World War 1 was actually started by the assassination of the Austrian Ambassador by a Bosnian Serb in 1914). Can Holmes and Watson head off the catastrophe?
The chemistry between Robert Downey Jr. and Jude law is there once again, and the addition of Holmes’ brother Mycroft (Stephen Fry) adds some great comic relief. Rachel McAdams makes an all too brief appearance and Jarred Harris is right on as the evil professor.
The same stop action slow motion cinematography that was used in the first movie is once again effective during the action scenes (and there is plenty of action). On the down side the movie is too long at over two hours (especially after watching some twenty minutes of previews). The bottom line is that the movie is well acted and tons of fun: Go see it if you haven’t already.
My Rating: 4 of 5 Deductions.