Sherlock Holmes a Game of Shadows

Sherlock Holmes a Game of Shadows
Sebastian Peill-M
10/24/15


   Why stop at the first Sherlock? Onward I say, this week I am reviewing "a Game of Shadows" the second in the Robert Downey Jr. version of Sherlock Holmes. The film was released in 2011 and made just under 40 million its opening week.

     Sherlock returns, and is in the middle of his biggest case ever, he is pursuing one Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris), a brilliant but insane man who wants war between Germany and France and will stop at nothing to gain it, including murder. Holmes races to stop him but he is always one step behind. When Watson and his new bride are attacked because of his connection with Holmes, Watson joins Holmes in his pursuit of Moriarty. The duo meets up with a gypsy who has a connection to Moriarty and chase him throughout Europe. Eventually they are all in the same place at the same time and although there isn't explosions the ending involves amazing fighting and one intense game of chess.

  As its predecessor, the film utilizes' many different things to cause the audience to enjoy the film. The camera angles are amazing and are mainly of people although they use several landscape shots for transitions and fillers. One scene really catches the audience attention, as the protagonists are running from an arms factory they enemies decide to open fire with everything they have, including a giant cannon. The camera angle captures the them running while being fired upon. The speed slows down and shows the bullet impact among the trees and whenever someone is killed (although no gore). The entire scene is epic and shows how far we have come with visual effects.

  As for the music, well it was epic as the first movies. Including lots of harpsichord, which is the main instrument. The musical editor did a great job speeding up and slowing down the music whenever they needed to add affect to the scene. One negative note about the music is that it is a bit repetitive and gets almost annoying at points. The film added some gypsy music as one of the characters is a gypsy and it really enjoyable and dance-able, even making Watson dance.

   I love this movie, and although in my opinion it isn't as great as the first movie it isn't far behind. The acting is great and of course it has Robert Downey Jr. so what's not to love? With plenty of puns and short one-liners RDJ of course, rocks this role perfectly. Jude Law as the doctor does as well as he did in the first movie, although with the added emotion of having a wife. The added and the killed characters add a variety of options for story line and motivations for each character. One character who appears is Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock's brother. Mycroft is played by Stephen Fry and is an extremely important government official.

    As for the future of this franchise? Well a third installment has been confirmed, so I am extremely excited and can't wait for it to come out.

Interesting Fact: The slow-motion work in the film was done by Gavin Free, an English filmmaker who works for Rooster Teeth Productions and is known for his web series, The Slow Mo Guys, on YouTube. (Awesome YouTube channel)
Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=td2Zjdjqhhs