Sherlock Holmes: A game of Shadows is a thoroughly enjoyable movie. Every moment is filled with fast action or sharp dialogues or discoveries that leave you wide eyed with wonder.
The story is not a sequel to the earlier movie but a stand alone one. Sherlock and Watson try to outwit the evil Prof. Moriarty who is hell bent on starting a world war so that he can profit from it by supplying arms to all the warring parties. They are helped in their adventure by Sherlocks eccentric brother Mycroft and a gypsy woman called Sy whose brother Renee is caught in Moriartys web. The story seems a bit disjointedin the beginning but gets well knit pretty quickly.
There are two things that strike you the most about this movie. One, that Sherlock is not the straight faced,very propah Englsihman but rather a maverick prone to experimenting with crazy disguises and strange poisons and potions. This Sherlock has an edgy though still essentially British sense of humour and borders on, as Watson puts it, manic as his superbrain takes in all sorts of stimuli and processes them to get to the truth. The other thing that stands out is Watsons character. He is not a bumbling slightly dumb sidekick as we know him, but a sharp ex military man whom Sherlock treats like an equal partner. You see a wonderful warm affectionate relationship between the two which makes you feel emotionally at one with the characters.
Robert Downey JR has a ball as Sherlock. You can see the relish with which he wears his disguises, beats people up, gets beaten up and wisecracks his way through tough situations. It is a pleasure to see an actor immerse himself with so much pleasure into his role. Jude Law as Dr. Watson provides a wry counterfoil to this colourful character very well. The chemistry between the two actors is perfect. Jared Harris gives Moriarty the right evil sophistication. And of course Stephen Fry lives it u as Mycroft Holmes, scandalizing Watsons wife by hanging around naked in his house.
This movie is a total must see. It has you hooked tight up to the last second of the last scene and then at the end you have to stand up and clap. Just go.
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