I was lukewarm on the first Sherlock Holmes feature. I saw it as a sign Robert Downey Jr. was spreading himself a little too thin and the film itself didn’t hold much interest as it devolved into a bloated spectacle of computer-generated sets and a comedic routine that never got past the opening act. So with muted expectations I stepped into Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, hoping the reveal of Holmes’ iconic nemesis Professor Moriarty would spice things up a bit. Unfortunately, this turns into more of the same with only slight variations and a complete absence of mystery making for a film you are left waiting for it to end rather than anticipating what is to come.
Utilizing the oft-used terrorist plot, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows features the intelligent and respected Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris) as he sets his sights on starting a war between France and Germany through the use of a few well-placed bombings. Having anonymously become a major weapons manufacturer it’s his way of making large sums of money at the expense of others. We’ve seen this in a countless number of films and to let the audience in on the mystery without even offering up an hour’s worth of clues is just lame.
With that comes the continued play on the Lethal Weapon-esque partnership between Holmes and Watson, a relationship I felt was the absolute best thing to come out of the first film, but now, after only two films, it has already run its course and is too over-the-top to take it seriously, even as a farce. Holmes is a mad-genius of an investigator and Watson… Well, Watson just seems to be trying to stay alive throughout the film’s two hour running time.
Rachel McAdams returns as Irene Adler for only a short amount of screen time, as the Game of Shadows female protagonist is played by Noomi Rapace, who is taking advantage of her rise in fame as the lead in the Swedish adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo to Hollywood, though she is merely a set piece here as the Gypsy fortune-teller, Sim. Her part of the story is to play the third wheel as her brother’s involvement in Moriarty’s plan becomes something of a sideshow mystery that is less than satisfying.
I was happy to see the absence of the high-wire set pieces, but this time around it’s replaced with a lengthy train sequence that’s more action-filler than an integral part of the plot. The stakes are low and if you’ve seen a single trailer for this film you will be well ahead of the action to the point you’ll be yawning much of the way through.
Director Guy Ritchie found a way to inject a little bit of ingenuity into slow motion fight sequences in the first Sherlock, playing them out first in Holmes’ mind as he prepared his plan of punch and counter-punch. The same technique is used here only with a bit of a twist, which was a welcome surprise the first time it happened, but it quickly became redundant.
To search for outstanding positives in A Game of Shadows is a stretch as this is merely an expensive and average film that felt like it was more interested in remaining just safe enough for PG-13 audiences while only showing hints of real menace that would have turned its villain into something more interesting.
Harris is quite good as Moriarty in that you believe he’s got a sadistic side to him beyond his hands-off bombings. He’s also smart and, as one brief comment informs us, well-trained in hand-to-hand combat. As a result, the film is best when Moriarty and Sherlock are left to match wits, but this only comes along after we’ve been forced to endure several repetitive asides that all seem derivative of the first film and so many other films that follow similar plot patterns and feature a pair of buddy cops as the leads.
Imagination has essentially been replaced with dollar bills as Downey Jr. plays 19th Century’s Detective Jack Sparrow with a touch of Ethan Hunt’s penchant for disguises and the madcap behavior of Martin Riggs. When you’re doing nothing more than mining territory already covered you’re likely to leave the audience disinterested, which was exactly the case for me with Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.
