Saturday 28 January 2012

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Review


The first Sherlock Holmes film in this series wasn't amazing in my opinion. There just wasn't much that interested me about it. But, this sequel is an improvement on the first film and I actually quite enjoyed it...but it wasn't perfect.




The first good thing I have to say about this movie is that the cast is brilliant. Robert Downey Jr. does a convincing British accent, and is generally great as Holmes. Jude Law also does well as Watson, and the two have great chemistry throughout the film. I was also impressed by English comedian/actor, Stephen Fry who does a great job playing Holmes' brother Mycroft.


The plot centres around Professor Moriarty - Holmes famous adversary - and his plan to become the most powerful man in the world. It's hard to go into much more detail due to how complicated this story gets. It's a good idea for a plot, but you don't really know much about it until near the end when everything is revealed. This is a little annoying, because I spent a lot of the time just a little confused. At one point I had no idea what was going on.
Thankfully, there does come a point where the story gets back on track but it's still a shame that there was such an area of uncertainty.

Also, the ending comes out un-affected from the weak mid-point. It is an awesome, clever way to end the film and worth sticking around for.




And another thing I liked about the plot though was the many funny moments - and they were laugh-out-loud funny too! It was these moments that kept me going through the dodgy areas of story.


One thing that made me distance myself from the first film a bit, was the action. It's not that I don't like action films, but I just thought turning Sherlock Holmes into an action movie was a bit of a weird decision.
I've come to terms with that fact now, and so was able to enjoy the action here a little more. Although, while the action was fairly good I think they went a little overboard with the special effects - mainly slow-motion. At one bizarre moment, there was around 15 seconds of slow-motion of a guy blowing air out of his mouth. It was a little bit odd, and felt very unnecessary.

There were also times where Holmes actions seemed a little too unbelievable. This wasn't a serious issue, but it did make certain parts feel a little too silly.


But in the end Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is a good film. It has a great cast, a funny script, and an awesome ending. Although, it's hindered by a story that can easily confuse, and some over the top action.



0 comments:

Post a Comment

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.