In director Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows characters are re-imagined into an action comedy where, rather than the classic detective, Sherlock Holmes is an action hero.
Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes and Jude Law as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle reunite to unravel and derail an intercontinental intrigue that pits Sherlock's powers of observation and deduction against his nemesis and intellectual equal, mathematics Professor Moriarty's (Jared Harris) cerebral, sinister and calculating evil.
Bringing renewed focus to their characters' friendship, Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law settled into the revisionist bromance displaying a more relaxed and confident flair compared to Sherlock Holmes (2009). The well delineated male characters also includes Holmes' bold older brother Mycroft (Stephen Fry) and Moriarty's chief agent Col. Sebastian Moran (Paul Anderson).
Female character development is dampened by more fleeting screen-time compared to their male counterparts, such as Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams) Holmes' romantic interest, Mary Morstan (Kelly Reilly) Watson's wife and, in her first English language role, Sweden's Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo) as a gypsy.
Explosions, and fights at times overshadow the narrative traction, however, the careful attention to period detail and the well staged nonstop rapid action scenes enhance the viewing.
Those who enjoyed Ritchie's original Sherlock Holmes will also like this one.
