Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)

Holmes meets his ultimate nemesis : Professor Moriarty, who becomes an arms (and bandages!) dealer and wants to stir up a war between France and Germany so he can start making some serious money. That's the plot in a nutshell but it's all more complicated then that ofcourse.I was expecting another dumb blockbuster with lots of fighting and explosiosn and the first 15 minutes seem to confirm this but then the movie really takes in a rollercaster ride and moves at such an incredible pace it's difficult to keep up ! Highlights are the banter between Holmes and Watson, Stephe, Fry as MyCroft, incredible chases, gunfights including the incredible scene where Holmes and his gang gets almost blown to smithereens by German artilleryfire.Director Guy Ritchie provides a perfect bland between action and smart dialogue and at the same indulges in his obsession for firearms (the sniper!).Add the high production values and the perfect recreation of 1891 and you got a real winner !

Movie Review: "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" (2011)After the immense success of a reinvention of the "Sherlock Holmes" theme created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1931) through Director Guy Ritchie in making it a competing comic book adaptation punisher, where picture, sounds and music comes together in ultra-slow-motion shots generated by an Phantom HD Camera combined with Panavision Primo Lenses in Philipp Rousselot's camera department, which benefits an intriguing, well-twisted, yet sensation-mongering, injuiced with slight humorous slapsticked screenplay by Michele and Kieran Mulroney to challenge any recent fantasy action movie even after six years in the circuit.The cast surrounding Robert Downey Jr., as the street fighting version of an Sherlock Holmes character, with Dr. Watson, portrayed by matchmaking Jude Law to a further benefiting female cast beat challenging actress Rachel McAdams and second sidekicking supporting actress Noomi Rapace as Madame Simzo Heron, hunt to follow spider-web spreading Holmes' nemesis Professor James Moriarty, in viciously venom-breathing intelligence-exceeding performance by actor Jared Harris, even back-shadowing the character of Lord Blackwood by Mark Strong from the initiative "Sherlock Holmes" (2009).Producer Joel Silver, again showing his qualities in letting the director do his thing, overthrew himself with Warner Bros. Studios concerning marketing strategies of this clearly improving picture over the 2009er version in puncto drive, pace and event action for the holiday season escapology theories of U.S. domestic movie-goers, which should have filled more seats worldwide without the inability to place it apart against a raging much more PR-clarified "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol" and the hard-core loving minority at screenings of the English-speaking remake of "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" directed by David Fincher, making the winter 2011/2012 easily the best holiday season of a decade, where quality and daring creative choices on-set ruled a Hollywood production.© 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

I was a huge fan of Robert Downey Jr.'s performance in the first Sherlock Holmes, and while I was excited to see him again as Sherlock on screen, I was afraid I would be let down by yet another sequel. However, that was not the case at all! Sherlock in a Game of Shadows by far blew away my expectations and surpassed the first movie in my eyes. Sherlock is wittier than ever, while at the same time more stealthy, serious, and plays an amazing protagonist to the Antagonist Professor James Moriarty. Whether it be an action packed scene, funny dialogue, or just plain enjoyment, I was thoroughly enjoyed and hooked in from start to finish.

In 2009 Sherlock Holmes was re-imagined by Guy Ritchie as an ass- kicking and mentally unstable private investigator with a weakness for a variety of mind-altering substances. Played by Robert Downey Jr., Holmes was Iron Man without the vast fortune, super-suit and fashionable beard, but with the same genius-level intellect, capable of predicting the exact outcome of a fight with a foe before the first punch is thrown. Though heavily compromised by Ritchie's sledgehammer subtlety and love for annoying Cockney geezers, it was still an entertaining take on an extremely familiar character, with Downey Jr. at his twitchy best and demonstrating a convincing English accent.A Game of Shadows, the bloated sequel rushed into production after the international success of its predecessor, turns the doctor from idiosyncratic eccentric to a babbling pantomime. When we meet Holmes, he is rescuing his flame Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams) from a bomb intended for somebody else. The package was given to her by the scheming Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris), and after her next meeting with him, she disappears. On the eve of his wedding, Dr. Watson (Jude Law) arrives at Baker Street to find Holmes deep into investigating a splurge of seemingly unrelated murders and business acquisitions linked to Moriarty, and at Watson's bachelor party, the two encounter a gypsy woman named Simza (Noomi Rapace), the intended recipient of the letter that accompanied the bomb.Without any sign of the storytelling flair of the books, A Game of Shadows becomes little more than a series of punch-ups, shoot-outs and inane exchanges between Holmes and his trusted Watson. At one point, the heroes are fired at by an increasingly ridiculous arsenal of machine guns as trees shatter and fireballs explode around them in ultra slo-mo. Any resemblance to one of literatures most beloved characters is lost, and it feels instead like you're watching a movie about The Transporter's British granddad, albeit with a touch more style. Mad Men's Harris is impressive as Holmes's most challenging foe, but Rapace's character is so redundant that she is reduced to just a pretty face for the poster. Shockingly, the main problem is Downey Jr., whose hyperactive shtick is as tiresome as the plot he is caught up in.