Out at the Movies: "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows"

This weekend was a good one for action movie fans. Two big-budget flicks came out; “Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol” and “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows”. Their titles both evoke a feeling of ethereal mystery and they are definitely both in the cloak-and-dagger genre, but they are very different movies!


A bunch of us went to see Sherlock on Saturday afternoon. In case you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years, this is the second in the Guy Ritchie reboot of the classic Sir Arthur Conan Doyle series about the brooding British detective. (Not to be confused with the BBC Sherlock reboot, which is also awesome, but in a different way.)




Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law are back as Holmes and Watson to battle their arch-nemesis, Professor Moriarty, played by Jared Harris. This instalment is a little less steam-punk and a little more industrial. Again, we get to go into Holmes' mind as he notices little details and uses his near psychic abilities to see how situations will play out and react to his advantage. The plot is twisty enough to keep one interested but not so complicated that one can’t enjoy figuring things out for one’s self.


Guy Ritchie uses his signature artsy cinematography directing style on this to make it a beautiful film. There is one scene where our gang of heroes is running through a forest while bullets are spraying all around them and the motion slows so we can appreciate the individual splinters flying of the trees as they are shredded by lead. My hubby felt that some of these artsy scenes when on a bit too long for his tastes. Holmes’ “urban camouflage" gave us a great giggle, as well.


This Sherlock does have a slightly different feel than the first one, but if you enjoyed that one, you’ll probably like this one, too.