Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)

Summary

Watson's honeymoon is disrupted as he and Holmes team up with a gypsy to chase Professor Moriarty around Europe.

Director

Guy Ritchie

Downey Factor

High.

Character

Sherlock Holmes, the strung out Victorian detective.

Looks

Similarly unkempt but with way more disguises than the first Holmes movie

Performance

Comfortable, familiar.

Line

[Horses are] dangerous at both ends and crafty in the middle. Why would I want anything with a mind of its own bobbing about between my legs?

Accent

British

Love & Sex

Only a brief Irene Adler appearance.

Dies, Gay or Villain

Sort of, vaguely, no

Cast

Jude Law, Noomi Rapace, Stephen Fry, Jared Harris, Rachel McAdams

Connection

Jude Law and Rachel McAdams in Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes.

Jared Harris in Natural Born Killers.

RDJ Says

I feel about Jude the way Sherlock feels about John. He's the best partner a guy could ask for ... I'm a bit more dramatic and self-flagellating than some artists, so I'm very passionate, I guess. I think that was another nice thing about Jude, he's very even-keeled about the whole thing. So that no matter how kind of far out I go in trying to do my thing and our thing, he always counterbalanced that nicely ... My confidence level lately has been so high that I'm happy to go with people who have a pre-existing relationship and who just experienced something together that was unimaginably successful, enjoyable, smart and a little bit different ... Looking back at Doyle's stories and particularly his literary sentiments regarding the Holmes versus Moriarty of it all, it just seemed like [their fight] had to have a bit more gravitas and be more exciting and challenging ... The greatest success of the film is that our bad guy is really really really done. And doing a bad guy right is the hardest thing to do in this kind of show ... I like that [Moriarty] isn't twirling a mustache and he doesn't have endless monologues that give away everything that was cool about him by saying what his plan is. He doesn't tell me he's gonna kill me then leave me there with a way to get out ... Unlike last time, where Holmes kept getting Watson into trouble, this time Watson is getting Holmes out of trouble, and they're both in deeper trouble than I think the audience could have imagined we could go. All manner of nastiness has just occurred ... This Some Like It Hot moment was kind of my idea, then we were getting closer and closer, I was thinking, is this a really bad idea? And as it happens, it's good ... I thought I looked like if my sister was training for the Russian Olympics on steroids.

Lit Reference

Inspired by Sherlock Holmes stories including The Final Problem by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Time & Place

Victorian London, Paris, Germany, the Swiss Alps.

Gossip

During filming, tabloids falsely reported that he was injured on set and that he was feuding with Jude Law. None of these stories were true.

Availability

Released 16 December 2011. On DVD and Blu-Ray everywhere.

DVD Detail

Not exactly a commentary, but Robert Downey Jr hosts "maximum movie mode" on the Blu-Ray.

Foreign Titles

Brazil: Sherlock Holmes: O Jogo de Sombras (The Shadow Play)
Denmark: Sherlock Holmes 2: Skyggespillet (Shadow Game)
Finland: Sherlock Holmes: Varjojen leikki (Shadows Play)
France: Sherlock Holmes: Jeu d'ombres (Shadow Play)
Germany: Sherlock Holmes 2: Spiel im Schatten (Play in the Shade)
Lithuania: Serlokas Holmsas: Seseliu zaidimas (Sister Game)

Rotten Tomatoes

59% fresh | 175 reviews

Critical View

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: Law's down-to-earth and slightly fussy Watson proves once again to be the right counterweight to Downey's flighty, fidgety, flinty Holmes. As Johnny Depp has done so brilliantly with his devilish Jack Sparrow, Downey has made this sly sardonic Sherlock stylistically all his own. Case closed.

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Can a movie be hyperactive and lazy at the same time? Clever and idiotic? If the director is Guy Ritchie, the questions answer themselves. The real point of the movie is the bantering byplay between Holmes and Watson punctuated by punches, explosions and action sequences as bloated and pretentious as a 10-minute drum solo on a live album by a second-rate art-rock band from the '70s.

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Game of Shadows uses the bullet-time/freeze-frame effect so often that the movie threatens to turn into a screensaver, and the relationship between the two leads is pregnant with locker-room homoeroticism even before Holmes dresses in drag and lies on top of Watson. At times, the scenes grind to a halt and the characters just stand there, the hollowness of the whole enterprise revealed.

Does It Hold Up

The Sherlock sequel is more indulgent in re-hashing the things you like from the original, but with a slightly better mystery and the introduction of Dr. Moriarty, they're kind of equal.

2 Reasons to See It

1. Sherlock's numerous ridiculous disguises.
2. Two worthy adversaries: Jared Harris and Stephen Fry.

Overall

All the same ingredients as the first Sherlock movie, mixed differently, and with a much better plot.

If You Like It

You might also like Sherlock Holmes (2009), Zodiac (2007)

Photos

Video