SHERLOCK HOLMES - GAME OF SHADOWS : archive from 18th January 2012.

Saw the second instalment of this new 'SHERLOCK HOLMES' movie franchise last night - 'GAME OF SHADOWS'. Not much has changed here from the first outing with Robert Downey Jnr. and Jude Law clearly relishing in their roles second time around as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Doctor John Watson respectively.

It is 1891 and this time around we have arch enemy Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris) pitting his wits and his criminal mastery to foil Holmes and Watson, as he commits acts of terror, murder and mayhem against the worlds key business communities and personalities. The chase is on as Holmes thwarts various plans by Moriarty to commit further dastardly acts against others including Watson and his new bride Mary (Kelly Reilly) which is attempted on the train en route to their honeymoon. Enter Mycroft Holmes (Stephen Fry) - brother to Sherlock to save Mary when she is dispatched from the train  rather unceremoniously to save her life so that Sherlock and Watson can continue the chase unencumbered.

Fast forward to Paris and Holmes and Watson catch up with Madame Simza Heron (Noomi Rapace) who was the intended recipient of a ticking bomb courtesy of one Mr. Moriarty. Upon discovering that a bomb is supposedly planted under the Paris Opera, and subsequently being fooled by Moriarty as the expense of more local businessmen meeting in a nearby Hotel. This takes the action to Germany where Moriarty is set to gain control of an arms factory as a result of the death of its owner back in Paris - at the hands of Moriarty himself. At the factory a struggle ensues an Moriarty captures Holmes and an interrogation begins with Holmes having deduced Moriarty's plans by this time. Meanwhile Watson is off on the sidelines fighting his own battles against various no good henchmen but saves the day with a cannon that he happened to have handy in his back pocket, and in so doing brings down the factory so that Holmes, Watson and Simza can make their escape . . . but of course so does Moriarty.

What unfolds is that Moriarty has plans to target an international peace summit in Switzerland so triggering an international incident that is likely to result in widespread war - an outcome that Moriarty would relish and would profit from considerably given his arms manufacturing interests. Eventually confronting Moriarty on the balcony of the mountain side castle where the summit is being held, a fight develops and both topple over the cliff edge into the torrential waterfall far below - both are presumed dead!

With Moriarty's plans foiled Watson and his wife Mary return to London and to 221B Baker Street after the funeral of Holmes, but all is not quite what it seems . . . 

The cast is once again strong and the additions of Stephen Fry and Noomi Rapace add supporting character weight and Guy Ritchie Directs convincingly with some sharp witty dialogue and close up slo-mo action set pieces - both of which he has used convincingly in the past. I found this reasonably entertaining, but generally quite formulaic stuff offering pretty much what you would expect now that the characters are settled, and the story lines are fairly predictable.

Nonetheless off a US$125M production budget this film earned US$545M at the global Box Office (the first film did US$524M off US$90M) certainly paving the way for a third film in the series which in October last year (2014) was muted once a strong script had been agreed upon by all stakeholders. This film picked up two award wins and ten other nominations, and as for dollars and bums on seats, it certainly did the trick!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-