Busy, Loud and Lousy Sherlock Holmes Sequel

Here's where I once again disagree with most of the professional film critics - Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows is a lousy sequel to the first one also directed by Guy Ritchie. Not that the first one was really better, but at least it's more entertaining with great cinematography of ancient London.

This sequel features a glorious cast of thousands, even among the supporting roles. Apart from Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law still in the leading roles as Holmes and Dr. John Watson respectively, we now have the famous Stephen Fry (best known for his portrayal of Oscar Wilde) as Holmes's brother; Jared Harris (best known for his role as Lane Pryce in Mad Men); and, of course, Swedish actor Noomi Rapace (Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Swedish version). Rachel McAdams has a really small role as Irene Adler as a continuation of the first movie.

Similar to its predecessor, A Game of Shadows is entertaining all right. But none of the plot makes any sense and the whole movie is extremely busy, loud and complex. While the first Sherlock Holmes movie was, at times, funny, this one is even stretching it on the humour side. I never consider cross-dressing men funny and there are plenty of such unbearable scenes in this flick.

Nevertheless, there are a few improvements from the first movie. The makeup is remarkably a huge progress in this sequel except for the scenes when we have to witness the heavy use of cosmetics on Downey's face whenever he disguises himself as a ridiculously-looking woman. His fake British accent is also a much better attempt than his previous effort which I recall was hardly comprehensible.

On the actors, Jude Law is always delightful to watch even though the role of Dr. Watson doesn't capitalize on his talents. The same applies to Noomi Rapace whose role as a gypsy can be given to any other actor. And, frankly speaking, after watching both the Hollywood and Swedish versions of The Girl With A Dragon Tattoo, I embarrassingly mistook Noomi Rapace for Rooney Mara when I saw this movie. Unlike other women, I've never been a huge fan of Robert Downey Jr. - I think similar to Leonardo DiCaprio, he overacts in every single role. Stephen Fry's challenge is that he will always be Oscar Wilde to me. I also confused Kelly Reilly who plays Mrs. Watson with Jessica Chastain. So that leaves only Jared Harris who is probably the best in this movie as the ultimate villain. I always find him creepy as Lane Pryce in Mad Men, but without his glasses in this flick, he further communicates his villany with his eyes. I wasn't even aware of his lineage - he is Richard Harris's son!

Towards the end, I can only concur with The Chicago Tribune film critic's one-star rating for this movie.