Movie: Sherlock Holmes: A game of shadows
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law
“Who did it?” is the ultimate question which keeps you glued to any detective story. But that's not the case with the second instalment of Guy Ritchie's adaptation of the Baker Street legend.
Worthy opponent
In this one, Holmes and Watson take on Professor James Moriarty, the most challenging and worthy opponent that Holmes has ever faced.
The absence of a big suspense at the end doesn't seem to have affected the film's ability to grab your attention throughout and keep you guessing, and it does so, in grand style.
The film takes off with Watson's narration, and progresses as Holmes tries to track down the nefarious activities of the criminal mastermind Moriarty, during which, Irene Adler, the only woman to have impressed Holmes ever, gets murdered. Watson, who postpones his honeymoon for the adventure, accompanies Holmes, and they chase Moriarty, trying to tackle his manipulative and dexterous moves, till they unveil it all, in Switzerland.
The Holmes sequel stands out with excellent aspects of film making, and is marked with the dark and unique direction style of Guy Ritchie.
Visual treat
The gun fight sequences in the train and also in the weapon factory are mind boggling visual treats. Art direction department has done well in portraying the nineteenth century London, without any glaring mistakes. Good acting and a pinch of humour in the script, add to the plus points.
If you are a hard core fan of the Sherlock Holmes penned down by Conen Doyle, and a purist who looks for the same on screen, you will have to frown, on quite a few occasions. The makers of the film have tried to capture the soul of whatever Doyle has written, and you can spot a number of familiar characters and situations. Lestrade and Mycroft Holmes make an appearance, and there are glimpses of some of the Conen Doyle stories, most prominent being, ‘The final problem'.
But there are deviations as well, other than the appearance of Holmes. Some of the scenes were a little too ostentatious for a logic driven story, and Holmes, at times, was a little too comical, than, as we know him.
But besides all that, “Game of Shadows” scores, as a whole, and scores in such a way that it stays in our minds for some time; till the sequel comes, to be exact.
Bottomline: A worthy sequel. Do watch.
SUDEEP NAIR C., Assistant systems engineer, TCS (Blogs at http://thsntht.blogspot.com/)
