Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows (2011)

When the first of Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes films came out, I missed it at the cinema. I was at uni at the time and the local cinema was quite pricey, added to my lack of wealth and complete lack of confidence in Guy Ritchie's ability to successfully translate Sherlock Holmes to the screen I simply didn't see the point. However, earlier this year I borrowed the DVD off my sister after hearing off a couple of people that it was actually pretty good. You know what, I found myself enjoying the film despite my concerns early on. Robert Downey Jr Makes a wonderful Holmes, adding charm, wit and a great ability to exude confidence in what he is saying.]

After a lifetime of disappointing Hollywood sequels I approached this with trepidation. I was concerned because quite often when a film is a success those who make it will decide that the only way that they can make a better film is to make it bigger, more bombastic and quite often this process makes it lose much of its charm and makes you forget why you liked it in the first place. I'm thinking here of things like Mission Impossible 2, which just took the initial concept and buried it among action packed set pieces. Sherlock 2 though manages to be both bigger and more action packed whilst retaining its knowledge of what it is.

The plot revolves around Holme's nemesis Moriarty, played by Jared Harris, who through shadowy means is trying to organise a major conflict throughout Europe, something which is later cleverly linked into the future world wars. Sherlock and Watson join up with Madam Simza Heron (played by Noomi Rapace of the Millenium trilogy fame), a gypsy, whose brother seems to be linked to the whole affair.

The film is tightly plotted, the action pieces don't seem out of place, and it retains the humour of the first one, mostly through the love/hate relationship of Holmes and Watson. I wasn't expecting much from this film, but with a nice plot, some good acting and a good dollop of humour Hollywood has made a blockbuster sequel to be proud of. Not perfect, but a good fun piece of cinema that isn't pretending to be anything else.