Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Rated M (violence). 129 minutes. Directed by Guy Ritchie. Screenplay by Michele Mulroney and Kieran Mulroney.
Mr Ritchie absolutely cements his directorial reputation with this sequel to his high-octane Sherlock Holmes (2009). With the exception of the writers, the cast and creative team that ensured the first movie was as good as it was are back onboard – and the result is, mostly, quite magnificent.
If the Mulroneys’ dense screenplay is darker than the first instalment, it succeeds beautifully in escorting us both further and deeper into the film’s enthralling visual environment and the characters who inhabit it. The overall pacing, however, feels uneven and places too much emphasis on the big action sequences – spectacularly achieved though they are.
On the eve of Dr Watson’s (Jude Law) wedding to his beloved Mary (Kelly Reilly), Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jnr) is investigating a number of bomb-blasts that are targeting high-profile members of politics and society. When he suspects that the destruction may be the work of his great foe Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris), Holmes and Watson find themselves fighting for their lives (and the lives of everyone close to them) as Moriarty steps up his plan for the destruction and domination of Europe.
Mr Downey Jnr (pictured) takes his brilliant Holmes into another realm altogether – flawlessly capturing the detective’s wild eccentricities and idiosyncrasies in another virtuoso performance. Dr Watson gets a bigger slice of the action this time and Mr Law makes the most of every opportunity. Mr Harris (Lane Pryce in Mad Men and the son of the late, great Richard Harris) is perfectly menacing as the evil tormentor Moriarty, while Ms Reilly’s feisty Mary and Stephen Fry’s Mycroft (Sherlock’s brother) are hugely entertaining. Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel Prometheus – currently in production) is excellent as the mysterious fortune-teller Madam Simza Heron who discovers that she, too, is a target of Moriarty’s henchmen.
The grim mood and tone of the story (there are no laughs and Rachel McAdams’ fearless Irene Adler is ruthlessly dispatched early) feels as though we have been immersed in an intricately layered novel – with the ‘shadows’ of the title richly imagined and realised in Sarah Greenwood’s perfectly atmospheric production design and Philippe Rousselot’s cinematography.
But it is Mr Ritchie’s grand directorial vision for the film that ensures it rises above its momentary and fleeting flaws to become an enthralling adventure – and one that kicks off the 2012 cinematic year in commanding form.
This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.
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