Feature

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law reteam as Holmes and Watson and set out to outwit a villain who wants to push Europe into war.

Directed by Guy Ritchie(PG-13)

Guy Ritchie’s second Sherlock Holmes reboot is “not quite as much fun” as its 2009 predecessor, said Moira Macdonald in The Seattle Times. While there’s still some pleasure to be had in the director’s “bizarre melding” of slow-motion action sequences and a Victorian setting, this edition just feels “longer and more stuffed full of locations and bullets.” Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law reteam as Holmes and Watson, here attempting to outwit a brilliant villain who’s plotting to push Europe into war. As before, Law still hasn’t “located a tone for his Watson” and has no rapport with Downey, said Nick Pinkerton in The Village Voice. Ritchie tries to compensate with “constant crazed flurries” of action, which negate any chance of exploring the nuances of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous characters. Still, if you were a fan of this team’s first Holmes, “you’ll likely leave the sequel feeling satiated,” said Michael Phillips in the Chicago Tribune. It delivers brutal, “Tarantino-style” violence courtesy of a Holmes and Watson who are little but “jokey slaughter machines.” It even offers “a passably engaging final 15 minutes.”