Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

As I've mentioned before, I know very little about Sherlock Holmes and his wondrous investigative adventures. But now I've taken in a feature Hollywood movie and a brilliant BBC television series, and it turns out I have expectations. The latest movie starring Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law was disappointing, very much so. Part of the problem lies in RDJ himself, who keeps playing the same character over and over again. I know Sherlock is played arrogantly, and that's fine, but I found that Watson here, was just a bit nasty the entire time (he should be frumpy, yes, but not this much...perhaps). And the big problem with this movie is that it wasn't a mystery at all, but a straight up action movie.

Seriously, that's all I took away from this film, was all the action. It starts with the melee fights, which started in the first outing where Sherlock would deconstruct the fight before it happened, then it would play out exactly as he had envisioned. They ramp it up and use it too much; the innovation is lacking. There are more "car chases" than I care to count, and you quickly realize each action sequence is loosely joined by convoluted "mystery." I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer but I'm not the dullest either, but I just couldn't keep track of all the names, all the beards and the motivations behind Moriarty. Perhaps I just didn't care enough.

By all means, the movie is shot beautifully and the effects are fantastic, but it's entirely too over the top. It felt uncomfortable. I saw a post on the IMDB boards regarding the film, and how you could have called it anything else; I couldn't agree more. It's a brand marketing device: you know the name Holmes, so you'll come see this, just as you are drawn to all the A-list celebrities in the film. But you could have put original characters in here and had a more compelling film, as (partly) the expectation for success is lowered. I can't explain it coherently. I saw it with a couple of friends and we walked out with the same somber attitude. Especially coming down off seeing MI:4, this movie was severely lacking.