The deerstalker strikes back

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
DIRECTED BY: Guy Ritchie
STARRING: Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, Noomi Rapace, Rachel McAdams, Jared Harris
CERT: 12A

What could be more Christmassy than Victorian London?
Snow falls softly on the cobbled streets, carolers cheer the city with festive song, while a grumpy old man rediscovers his joy and a lame little urchin prays God to bless us all, everyone.
Then an explosion rips the crisp new morning air as an international terrorist embarks on a plot to plunge the world into war and chaos. Meanwhile, Charles Dickens does a cartwheel in his grave, narrowly missing Arthur Conan Doyle, who hasn’t stopped spinning since last time Guy Ritchie was in town.
Well, now he’s back, giving London another kicking for the geezers and continuing his devilish reinvention of its favourite detective.
Ritchie didn’t endear himself to the traditionalists in 2009 when he cast Holmes and Watson as a wisecracking buddy cop team who rampaged through town in a high-octane bombs and bullets adventure. He won’t win them over with this sequel either, which finds the old duo up to their eyeballs in bigger, brasher and even more explosive action.
The complaint – and I was one of the complainers – was not so much that Ritchie’s hero bore such little resemblance to Conan Doyle’s, it was that his legendary brain was taking a back seat to the less intellectual requirements of an action hero. Though, you could nearly live with that if the film overall was worth the deal but it wasn’t. Its story was a mess that was seriously lacking in heart and soul.
That’s a problem that hasn’t been solved this time around either, though Ritchie does his best to distract attention from that with flashy tricks and a breathless tempo. Sometimes he even succeeds and despite its flaws, this new Sherlock can be highly entertaining. It’s just a pity it’s all show, with nothing substantial beneath the surface.
When we catch up with the lads, Watson (Law) is about to be married and Holmes (Downey Jr) is not taking it well. But as always, there’s nothing like a new case to take his mind off lesser things, even if this latest one is a tad personal.
After a brief encounter with his mysterious lady friend Irene Adler (McAdams), Holmes picks up the trail of a certain Professor James Moriarty (Harris), an Oxford don who doubles as an anarchist mastermind with plans to orchestrate assassinations and general mayhem across Europe. The idea is to kick off a world war, which would turn a very nice profit for anyone who also happens to be a major player in the arms industry. Like, say, our friend Moriarty. Who, of course, must be stopped by the good detective and his longsuffering sidekick, the good doctor.
That’s the basic plot, which also involves the gypsy fortune teller Madam Simza Heron (Rapace), a memorable contribution by Sherlock’s brother Mycroft (Stephen Fry) and a spot of globetrotting to France, Germany and, ultimately, Switzerland – for a nice game of chess in the cold.
It’s a scene that pays homage to the Holmes of old, the man whose greatest weapon was his intellect. But the moment is brief and what remains in the mind instead is all of the running, all the flash, all the manic editing and always, all of the noise.
It would be nice to say that at least the cast all look like they’re up for it. Jude Law does, but then he always seems eager to please, which makes most of his characters somehow unlikable for reasons I can’t explain. Meanwhile, Jared Harris makes a fine Moriarty, a man who knows how to be a great villain without feeling the need to snarl and roar and shout, a rarity in recent movie memory.
While every Sherlock Holmes yarn hangs on the main man, strangely in Game of Shadows he doesn’t show up much. There are moments when Downey Jr is in his element and clearly having a blast but mostly he seems like he’s only half interested, going through the motions as part of the scenery instead of chewing it up. Of course, Downey Jr going through the motions is still better than most, but he just isn’t on top form here.
Maybe he’d read the old stories and felt guilty. This is not his doing, however, it’s Mr Ritchie who must take the blame for the sins committed here. And the applause, too, for there are times when his sorcery works and all you can do is admire his vision, briefly forgetting that it’s little more than entertaining vandalism.
Some Dickens might go down more pleasantly at Christmas. But whatever you get up to, have a good one.