Following a hugely entertaining first outing, Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, and director Guy Ritchie return for Sherlock Holmes 2: A Game of Shadows, a horrific come down from the fun of the original film that suffers from an abundance of style over substance.
This time out an even more manic Holmes (Downey) and the soon to be married Watson (Law) are investigating a series of bombings that could lead to an impending war between France and Germany. (Why this falls under Holmes jurisdiction is anyone’s guess.) The bombings seem to have a connection to notorious professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris), quite possibly the only man in Europe capable of outsmarting Holmes himself.
The film gets off to an extremely fast, but decent start that will confuse viewers not familiar with the first film. Despite getting off on the right foot, the movie very quickly descends into a non-stop series of explosions and slow motion fight sequences that are nothing short of headache inducing.
Whereas the first film cared about setting up an actual mystery, the plot of this entry is almost perfunctory. There is very little detective work going on since the clues Holmes and Watson are following around are nothing more than bowling ball sized bread crumbs strung in a straight line. Attentive viewers will probably figure out that the plot isn’t going anywhere exciting about thirty minutes in.
Ritchie’s style of direction, kinetic and frantic, has reached its absolute nadir here. The film is edited almost into incoherence, with sequences repeated and remounted sometimes as many as three times simple because he seems to think it looks cool. It’s the kind of direction that Michael Bay might even see as overkill.
The cast doesn’t seem that interested, either. Downey comes across as a smarter, formaldehyde imbibing version of Jack Sparrow. Harris is fine, but Moriarty is far from being the bad ass the previous film set him up to be. Law is a good sport and fares the best out of everyone, but he isn’t doing anything he didn’t already do in the original. Swedish actress Naomi Rapace is also wasted as the leading female who is useless until the final twenty minutes.
This isn’t a Holmes movie. This is a Transformers movie without the robots and set in late 1800s Europe. Even by those oddly appealing standards, this film is woefully elementary.
Rating: 
Rated PG
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Noomi Rapace, Jared Harris
Directed by: Guy Ritchie
Top image: A scene from Sherlock Holmes 2: A Game of Shadows. Courtesy Warner Bros.
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