Dec. 21, 2011 - Issue #844: The Artist
Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows
After the first Guy Ritchie-directed Sherlock Holmes outing drastically set itself apart esthetically from previous Holmes incarnations while at the same time presenting a story that was a touch disappointing, focusing as it did on supernatural elements and chicanery, expectations were raised for Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Audiences would be able to see a real villain, Holmes' eternal nemesis Moriarty, inside Ritchie's highly-stylized world.So, did Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows finally marry story with esthetics? It did not.
Instead, audiences are treated to a steampunk version of a bad James Bond film. All of the worst elements of Bond movies are here: the last movie's girl (Rachel McAdams) is killed off in the first reel with little consequence for our hero; the audience is in the dark as to what exactly the plot is, what catastrophe Holmes (Robert Downey Jr) is seeking desperately to avert, while we see our hero and his sidekick (Jude Law) move from one inexplicable action sequence to the next; finally, a new pretty girl (Noomi Rapace) shows up to offer assistance when needed, and to disappear when not—acting as a deus "sex" machina, as it were.
It's hard to follow exactly what is going on, but the plot seems flimsy and perhaps best disregarded anyway. Nonetheless, when Holmes and Moriarty (Jared Harris) do meet face to face in the penultimate scene, it's the film's best. The movie's often-annoying fight style—where everything is played out the first time in slow motion, and then again at regular speed—is finally used toward an effective end, and the literal verbal chess game is an interesting metaphor for the pair's other, figurative chess game.
Still, one scene does not a movie make. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is a disappointing mess, with a plot harder to follow than most conspiracy-minded action films and of even less consequence.
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