Thursday, December 29, 2011

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (contains spoilers!)



Too long.

Too many explosions and slow motion running bits.

Not as funny as the first one.

Awkward scenes with Robert Downey Jr. in drag.

Gratuitous naked Stephen Fry scene. (And I like Stephen Fry: he played Jeeves! But no. Just... NO.)

Sherlock's childhood nickname.

Despite all of this, I enjoyed the movie a lot. Some parts made me want to groan, or I thought were all wrong, but other parts made me laugh out loud.

I enjoy this series reboot of Sherlock Holmes: action-y, fast-paced buddy films that show a more vulnerable and neurotic side of Holmes than many people dare.

I love Jude Law as the perpetually exasperated but still loyal and caring Watson.

I adored the gypsy woman who featured in this film and thought she was so cool!

I loved the way the film used the Falls in the confrontation between Moriarty and Holmes, twisting it and making it its own.

And I loved the ending!

I do think this movie strayed slightly at times from buddy films and into "we hint at more," which I didn't really like. This could just be my interpretation, however, and I was able to ignore those (possible) bits and enjoy the movie as a buddy film. Though sometimes I had to try quite hard.

The teenage girls in the seats behind me giggled when Holmes and Watson "had" to dance together, but I wanted to grind my teeth. It seemed completely historically inaccurate that two men could dance together at a political function and use it as cover to inconspicuously converse and spy! (If anything, they should've been standing on the sidelines drinking punch.)

Obviously there were other historical inaccuracies as well, but mostly they felt like stretching a point to create a steampunk effect, not completely ignoring history.

Would I recommend it? Not unless you liked the first, and in that case, don't hold your expectations quite as high.

For the third film, I certainly hope it won't be longer, even more special-effects oriented, etc. etc.

I predict that, following canon, Watson's wife will have died (natural causes?), and he will be grief-stricken. Holmes reappears, hijinx ensue while they track down and try to avoid being killed by Moran. And explosions. Lots and lots of explosions.

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