In the Shadows

Hello Everyone :-)

We have a bit of a tradition in my family of going to the pictures for New Years. I’m glad because I bloody hate New Year and doing something I adore (i.e. going to the pictures) makes me feel so much better about the whole vile day. So as a treat 9 of us trotted along to see the most recent offering from the former Mr Madonna, ‘Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows’.

We rejoin Holmes and Watson some time after the events of the first film. Watson is days away from his marriage to the long suffering Mary and is trying to distance himself from his investigatory past. Meanwhile, Holmes is investigating a series of seemingly unrelated murders, terrorist attacks, and business acquisitions that he has connected to the enigmatic genius, Professor Moriarty.

Everything that I enjoyed about the first film is present and correct in this one and a whole lot more.

The cast are great but I think the female characters are underused. Rachel McAdams had an all too fleeting role in the first film, what she does in ‘Game of Shadows’ she does well, but she’s given a criminally small amount of screen time. Likewise, Noomi Rapace is good as Sim but her character falls a bit flat. You can’t help but think she’s been written in to up the oestrogen levels of the film. On both counts this is disappointing because these women are really good actresses. I was particularly looking forward to Rapace’s role because she’s so good in the Millennium trilogy, to see her talents squandered like this is unfortunate to say the least. Some people have flung sexist accusations at the film but I don’t really see that. I think it’s a film about the central pairing of Holmes and Watson and that is what Richie has focused on. Just to clarify, I don’t have an issue with the lack of female characters; I have an issue with the underdevelopment of the female characters. It’s not sexist, it’s just a shame.
Stephen Fry is a welcome addition. His Mycroft is played solely for laughs and there are indeed, laughs aplenty. Especially the Breakfast scene and the revelation that Sherlock’s childhood nickname was ‘Shirley’…
Jude Law continues his character in fine form with the best performance he’s given in anything to date. He totally nails that kind of affectionate exasperation that Watson has for Holmes. Their relationship has definitely changed between films. Initially the pairing was akin to bickering children but in this film it’s much more an old married couple type of relationship.
My favourite thing about ‘Game of Shadows’ is Jared Harris. He is amazing, every look, every utterance is full of everything Moriarty is. The scene in the munitions factory between him and Holmes was brilliant because Harris found the line between genius and lunatic and hit it dead on (in a Hannibal Lector, ‘Silence of the Lambs’ intelligent but insane kind of way). I was hanging on his every word from start to finish. My lovely friend Mark has (as always) written a really good blog about the differences between the TV show ‘Sherlock’ and the cinematic Guy Ritchie version and their portrayals of Holmes’s nemesis. Personally I prefer Harris’s calculating, less frantic interpretation of the character. The scenes between Moriarty and Holmes are superb and arguably when ‘Game of Shadows’ is at its best. Both actors bring their A games and nail it.

Some of the set pieces are knockout. The sequence where they’re running through the trees and being rained on by bullets  is brilliant and reminded me of Episodes 6 and 7 of Band of Brothers when they’re in the woods of Bastogne and Foy (I’m not saying ‘Game of Shadows’ looks televisual, I’m saying ‘Band of Brothers’ looks cinematic). I also really liked the scene where Holmes is tricked into thinking the bomb is in the Opera house. The feel of that scene is fantastic, there’s a genuine ‘stomach dropping’ tension to it. There’s an overall sense of growing-up in ‘Game of Shadows’; if ‘Sherlock Holmes’ was a teenager trying to find their own identity then this is a thoroughly confident 20 something.

Some bits don’t work as well. I thought the scene on the train was a bit too long and really there was no reason for Holmes to be in drag. There’s also a bit less emphasis on the sleuthing which is a shame. I love all the ‘traces of a chemical found on his shoe can only have come from here!’ and ‘he managed to escape using this!’ kind of stuff and that was fairly absent. There was more of a focus on the fighting and Holmes using his intellect to defeat an opponent. I’d be lying if I said the ‘fall’ scene (in which he deduces that there is no way he can beat Moriarty in a fight) isn’t totally thrilling, because it is, however there are 2 or 3 scenes before that where Holmes is pitted against some hired henchmen where this device is used and it kind of gets a bit old.

Most people (and believe me there are some that don’t) know that Sherlock Holmes was originally a series of books but ‘Game of Shadows’ isn’t an adaptation. It features the Reichenbach waterfall and the fall itself but other than that it’s an independent story. Fanboys/girls are lovely, I count myself as their friend if not one of them; however they do get a little bit precious…  I’ve heard grumblings from those who don’t like that Richie has made up his own stories and think the Conan-Doyle source material should be adhered to at all times. These people are misguided at best.
I don’t mind that they’re playing fast and loose with the books, in fact I’m quite pleased. I haven’t seen nearly enough of Jared Harris as Moriarty and if Ritchie was sticking to the source material he’d have had to ditch him but now there’s always the possibility he could return.
It’s not too dissimilar to the ridiculous story that was in the news 18 months ago about all the Doctor Who fans that got annoyed because in a 1976 episode of ‘Who’ it was said that the Doctor was only supposed to have 12 regenerations and the BBC subesquently backtracked on this. What were they supposed to do?!?! Stop making the most popular show in their schedule because 35 years ago one of the writers plucked a number out of the air???
These points of view are insane. In both cases, sticking to the source material would be cutting your nose off to spite your face.

‘Game of Shadows’ is such a gung-ho, action-adventure it’s hard not be seduced by its charms. Downey Jr’s version of Sherlock is probably a million miles away from what Arthur Conan-Doyle imagined all those years ago, but that doesn’t stop it being thoroughly entertaining. It isn’t totally dumbed down, is still massively accessible to the largest audience possible and contains some brilliant turns by Downey Jr, Law and Harris. Quite frankly, it’s a hoot and if you haven’t seen it already you definitely should.

And now, for the first time in 2012, let’s have a look at some…

Reasons to be Cheerful :-)

1. A couple of  bits of ‘Hobbit’ news! Me and my Mum went to the cinema to see ‘The Artist’ the other day (post coming soon) and I saw the ‘Hobbit’ trailer for the first time on the big screen and I got all emotional! There’s also been some photos released of Bilbo in Bag End with the Dwarves and Gandalf. I’m very much enjoying the varying states of confusion on his gorgeous Hobbit-ey face :-) Martin Freeman is the very image of Bilbo and the more I look at him in character the more I think that this is going to be the best thing ever…

2. ‘Being Human’ returns on 5^th February! The Premier episode of series 4 is called ‘Eve of the War’. Apparently Michael Socha will ‘break your heart’ in this series and I don’t doubt it. He was one of my highlights of series 3. Have a sneak peak at episode 1 in pictures here. 


3.It’s less than 2 weeks till Muppet time!!!! 10 days to go!!! BTW... this is awesome and so is this :-)

That’s all for today.

Goodbye till next time :-)
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