Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Picking up where Guy Ritchie's 2009 original left off, the director's sequel finds Dr. John Watson (Jude Law) recalling his “last case” with genius detective Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.), whose manic and eccentric behavior verges on the psychotic. In 1891, Strasbourg and Vienna are rocked by a seemingly unrelated series of bombings, which escalate tensions between France and Germany. When an Indian cotton tycoon falls in a scandal, a Chinese opium trader suffers an apparent overdose, and an American steel magnate dies, Holmes suspects that these seemingly disparate events are the work of a criminal mastermind: diabolical Oxford Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris)—and the game is afoot. Matters are complicated when Watson's marriage to Mary (Kelly Reilly) leads to a Brighton honeymoon trip—a romantic holiday venture that goes awry after Holmes unexpectedly turns up in the couple's train compartment and tosses Mary overboard so the crime-fighting duo can pursue conspiracy clues gleaned from a mysterious gypsy fortune teller (Noomi Rapace). After Mary is rescued by Holmes's older brother Mycroft (Stephen Fry), Watson and Holmes embark on a merry chase through Europe that takes them from a peach orchard onto the stage of the Paris Opera before culminating at a diplomatic gathering in a precariously perched castle straddling Reichenbach Falls in the Swiss Alps. Seductive Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams) also returns as a courier in this sassy, stylish, rollicking bromance action romp. Recommended. [Note: DVD extras include the behind-the-scenes featurettes "Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson: A Perfect Chemistry," "Moriarty's Master Plan Unleashed,” and “Holmesavision on Steroids.” Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is a Maximum Movie Mode" viewing option featuring star Robert Downey Jr. in a picture-in-picture commentary track, along with storyboards, and seven separately viewable behind-the-scenes "Focus Points" featurettes (35 min. total, including the aforementioned trio on the DVD), as well as bonus DVD and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a fun sequel.] (S. Granger)