I’ve read several reviews of the new Sherlock Holmes movie, “A Game of Shadows,” and many of the critics complain about a lack of classic Holmes sleuthing. Having seen the sequel twice, I can only assume they weren’t paying attention.
True, the movie is more manic than the black and white films in which Basil Rathbone starred. Director Guy Ritchie injected “A Game of Shadows” with a potent dose of adrenaline. Explosions rip across the screen, hand-cranked chain guns spit out hundreds of bullets, and there are more fistfights than days in the year.
Ritchie also employed a lot of stylish slow motion. In the movie’s biggest set piece, bad guys unleash unholy hell on Holmes, Watson and others as they attempt to escape through a forest. One shot shows Holmes in midstride, barely moving, as a massive shell just misses him and shatters a nearby tree, showering him with splinters. This is a modern Holmes, re-imagined to entertain today’s audiences.
But the Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle created is there, more so than in the first movie in this series. Take the scene in which the famous detective, embodied again by Robert Downey, Jr., walks into a room, calmly questions a gypsy whose brother is mixed up in some bad goings-on, and then before leaving reveals the presence of an assassin. Holmes became aware of the third heartbeat in the room when he walked in and noticed a tiny scrap of a particular kind of fabric on the head of a nail, a slightly pungent odor in the air, and a few other details that had escaped the gypsy’s senses.
That’s the Holmes I grew up watching in the Rathbone movies. However, I never saw Rathbone dispatch an enemy the way Downey does the killer.
While the fights are brutal, in a PG-13 way, I like what they reveal about the characters. No one, not even four brutish thugs, can defeat Holmes, who uses his intellect as much as his fists. Before a skirmish begins, Ritchie will stop the action and focus on Holmes, who sees in his mind how the entire fight will play out, and then plans his moves accordingly. No one provides a challenge for Holmes until the detective comes to blows with his nemesis, Moriarty, at the end of the movie. Ritchie uses the violence in “A Game of Shadows” to show that Moriarty is the intellectual equal of Holmes.
Throughout the movie,” Holmes picks up on clues and uses deduction in a way I believe would please Doyle. And the movie culminates in a gripping mental showdown between Holmes and Moriarty that had me leaning forward in my seat.
Ritchie and his writers, Kieran and Michele Mulroney, clearly set out to right the wrongs that plagued the first movie. As portrayed by Downey, Holmes is more human this time, partly because his battle of wits with Moriarty reveals him to be vulnerable, but also because of his obvious affection for this partner, Watson. The chemistry between Downey and Jude Law, who plays Watson, is terrific, and Ritchie milks it for a lot of comedic relief. The two men appear to truly love each other, and their relationship comes across as genuine, especially in the way they grow exhausted with one other.
Also, the performances are terrific across the board. Jared Harris is particularly good as Moriarty, a cold, calculating and brilliant man. Harris nails every nuance of the character, and creates a memorable villain that can stand next to the greats, including Alan Rickman’s Hans Gruber in “Die Hard” and Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lecter. Downey and Harris have a different, but equally effective, chemistry, and their scenes together are riveting, especially the last one.
The plot of “A Game of Shadows” involves Moriarty’s attempts to spark a world war in order to become rich selling weapons. It’s well-constructed, never convoluted and serves the characters well, but it’s not what makes the movie as good as it is. Rather, “A Game of Shadows” has that rare magic that happens when great care is taken to make sure everything in a movie works. I hope Ritchie and company make more of these films.
Rated PG-13 for violence and some drug material. Three-and-a-half stars out of four. Email David Laprad at dlaprad@hamiltoncountyherald.com.