Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes was clearly made with the intention of building a franchise. It’s obvious because the 2009 film painstakingly establishes the quirky Holmes/Watson bromance, so character development wouldn’t be necessary in the impending sequel(s).
However with Ritchie’s second entry in the series, A Game of Shadows, his writing team Michele and Kieran Mulroney make the classic sequel mistake that character development is superfluous. They seem to have forgotten that when you introduce new protagonists and a main villain like they do in this film, it’s just as critical, to keep audience interest.
A Game of Shadows picks up several months after the first film left off: Watson (Jude Law) is preparing for his wedding day and Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) has developed a manic obsession with catching his brilliant new adversary, Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris). In the first Sherlock Holmes Moriarty lurked in the shadows, but now he has revealed his desire to create chaos across Europe.
When Moriarty threatens to harm Watson and his new bride, Holmes convinces his old pal to join him for one last big case. So Holmes and Watson undertake a mission across Europe to catch Moriarty and to stop his dastardly assassination plot. This time they get some help though from new allies: Sherlock’s flamboyant diplomat brother Mycroft (Stephen Fry) and a badass gypsy fortune teller Madam Simza Heron played by Noomi Rapace.
Although Madam Heron doesn’t really get terribly fleshed out, her strong silent nature and self-assured persona make her a more suitable companion for Holmes and Watson than the dainty Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams), who didn’t add much to the first film.
Despite being touted as Holmes’ greatest foe, Moriarty receives surprisingly little development as well. Ritchie paints their relationship as one of familiarity, like they’ve been after each other for years, even though Holmes only learned of Moriarty in the previous film. Professor Moriarty is evil and his competition with Holmes is amusing, however the writers don’t build up his misdeeds enough to fully turn the audience against him.
In addition to flimsy characters, A Game of Shadows also lacks the same great banter between Watson and Holmes that was present in the first film. Holmes specifically rambles like a nut with very little substance to his dialogue. Given these two weak spots the first half hour of the movie is pretty boring.
Action picks up heavily toward the middle of A Game of Shadows, with some sequences surpassing the original in terms of danger for our heroes. Unfortunately Ritchie seems to care more about style than substance in A Game of Shadows. He continues to use Sherlock’s own bullet-time type slow-mo combined with crazy forced perspectives of bullets and shells being shot from guns, which admittedly is pretty darn exciting at times.
Ritchie redeems himself with the final conflict between Moriarty and Holmes, which is a thrilling battle of wits in a literal and metaphorical chess game. In spite of some entertaining moments though, A Game of Shadows as a whole, isn’t as cohesive as its predecessor.