"If you are like me and were a fan of Sherlock Holmes, then I recommend that you see Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows before it leaves the theaters!"
Mystery, Suspense, Action, Adventure and Fantasy
Mystery, Suspense, Action, Adventure and Fantasy
Starring - Robert Downey Jr./Sherlock Holmes, Jude Law/Dr. John Watson, Noomi Rapace/Madam Simza Heron, Rachel McAdams/Irene Adler, Jared Harris/Professor James Moriarty, Stephen Fry/Mycroft Holmes & Kelly Reilly/Mrs. Mary Watson
Director - Guy Ritchie
Writers - Michele Mulroney & Kieran Mulroney
PG-13 - for intense sequences of violence and action, and
some drug material.
2hr., 8 min.
When I went to see Guy Ritchie’s first Sherlock Holmes
film in 2009, I was as skeptical as any fan of the original Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle stories, as to whether Ritchie’s “modern” approach to Holmes and his
Victorian era London would work. However, when I left the theater, I was a
convert and was as reenergized in my love for the iconic detective as much as I
was upon my first viewing of Jeremy Brett’s first portrayal of Holmes in the
1984 British Granada Television’s adaptation of "A Scandal in
Bohemia".
Two years later, Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes: A Game of
Shadows has upped the ante of the first film, by pitting Holmes against his
greatest foe, Professor James Moriarty! Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is
about two things: The end of Holmes and Watson’s partnership and the beginning
of Holmes and Moriarty’s moral antithesis and commensurate rivalry.
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is based in part on
"The Final Problem". That
story introduced Professor James Moriarty and also ended in Switzerland and the Reichenbach
Falls. However, the film defers from the plot of the short story in many ways;
adding many a complex plot thread that only adds to the fun and sophistication
of the final problem.
Watson’s honeymoon to his new bride is interrupted by
dozens of assassins, but a disguised Holmes is there to help save Mrs. Watson
and dispatch the villains. Holmes informs Watson that Moriarty is threatening him
and his wife, because Holmes has refused to cease his investigations into the plot
of Moriarty to instigate war between France and Germany, by assassinating a key
figure of the upcoming European Peace Conference. Holmes and Watson join forces
one last time and head to France where Holmes believes the brother of a gypsy
woman, Madam Simza Heron, has been coerced into Moriarty’s plot.
Guy Ritchie has taken a complex plot and integrated it
with enough big action sequences and broad humor to keep the film steamrolling
at an unrelenting pace! Yet, when the final scene occurs, it is Holmes’s trust
in Watson and Holmes ability to outwit Moriarty that makes the finish of Game
of Shadows so satisfying. If you were not a fan of the first film, than nothing
I can say will convince you that Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is worth
your time. However, if you are like me and were a fan of Sherlock Holmes, then
I recommend that you see Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows before it leaves
the theaters.
My rating for Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is 93
out of 100.
How I arrived at this grade is through a simple formula of criteria that I consider to be the basis of what is needed to evaluate a film. Every category is graded on a 5 to 10 scale, with 10 obviously being the highest and 5 the lowest. At some point in the future, I may go into detail on my system, but for now just know that the highest score I could give a film would be a 100 and the lowest being a 50.
TECHNICAL: Acting - 10 Directing -10 Cinematography - 9 Script - 9
Special Effects - 9 VISCERAL: Visual - 10 Auditory - 9 Intellectual - 8
Emotional - 9 Involvement -10 = TOTAL RATING 93
