Sherlock Holmes 2: Games of Shadow: : cerebral yet highly entertaining

When they first made the remake of Sherlock Holmes, I was highly skeptical. I was a fan of Holmes since my early school days, and nearly finish reading all of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's book. And it was for the similar reason how my internet nic originate. However I dislike how they twisted Holmes in the first movie, it is difficult to hate how Downey Jr and Jue Law's portrayal of the famous detective. And though it is confusing at times, I got used to Guy Ritchie's style of direction which seems to work in this movie. At the end, I enjoyed the first movie much. And knowing that in the end of first movie, the name Moriarty appeared which definitely will lead to the appearance of the infamous arch nemesis of Holmes.

Now, Games of Shadow premise is simple. There is lots of bombing around in Europe, Holmes investigate and all clues lead to Moriarty. Without giving away the plot much, the whole story get Holmes and Watson traveling to uncover more clues and trying to find evidence to prove Moriarty's crime. The problem is, Moriarty is highly intelligent, as good as Holmes. To cut the story short, Irene Adler die at the front of the movie, much to the delight of most movie's reviewers but I was hoping she stay on. And the end of the movie emulate how Moriarty meet his end in the book, right in the waterfall. And, much to my joy, Mycroft Holmes made his appearance, though I did find the casting bit inaccurate. But, his aloofness is fairly spot on.

Action sequence is really similar to the first movie, how Holmes anticipate battle moves, the slow mo scenes in the midst of fast pacing bullets flying sequence. It sort of work for me. And the director remember, sometimes, less is more. Instead of bombarding the whole movie with action, it is correctly place. This, after all is not MI, so instead stick back to the dialogue and the cerebral thrill instead. And the highlight of the movie, the chess games in the end is thrilling in another way. Ah... that brings us to the script. Brilliantly funny. Not cheesy at all. Although I still prefer some subs, sometimes the conversation is way too fast with the pseudo-English accent.

Finally, what make the movie works is Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law. Perfectly cast and thank goodness they remained for the second movie. This will go down in the text book depicting what is the definition of bro-mance. The chemistry beats all the cheesy winter love comedy.

In the end, good movie, one really have to pay attention to enjoy the movie, because the details is sort of needed to make sense of the movie. Probably bit more cerebral compare to my recent enjoyment of MI4.

ratings: 4 poink!

comments: I was always bias once it involves Holmes, because he hold a soft spot in my heart. And being a chess player myself makes the end game a real threat. But what make the movie works is the 2 leads.