Review of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) by Anonymoose — 03 Jan 2012

The first few scenes of the movie confirmed my fears that it was a bit of a departure from the atmosphere of the first. The action is consistently high instead of masterfully ebb and flow, the setting is a bit unrealistically global (though with good reason) instead of meaningfully localized, and lengthy gunfights have replaced most of the proper beat-downs.

What surprised me is that every scene thereafter completely justifies it. Sherlock is already deep into this mystery by the time the movie begins and by the time you catch up to what he's figured out about Moriarty's intention's, it'd have been ridiculous for him not to have brought along as many bullets as possible.

All in all, I dare say that I'm more pleased than I probably would have been with a "more of the same" sequel. Like it's predecessor, the scenery is beautiful, the acting is great, the soundtrack's superb, the special effects well exceeded my expectations and the sets, costumes, and casting make it all work perfectly.

Unfortunately, my high praise likely hinges on the condition that they don't make a third movie. As much as I'd love to see more, I'm afraid there's nowhere left to go but down.