Noomi lands her H debut

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Director Guy Ritchie Screenwriters Michele Mulroney, Kieran Mulroney Cast Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Noomi Rapace

I must say that my feelings about Guy Ritchie’s latest Sherlock Holmes are somewhat mixed. When I first walked out of the cinema after seeing the film shortly after Christmas, there was no doubt that I felt I had gotten my money’s worth. Sure, it wasn’t exactly faithful to the original stories or even, with its heavy action focus, to the stories’ spirit. However, I always find it pointless to demand absolute verisimilitude with the source material of an adaptation. There is no reason a different interpretation, if well made, couldn’t be just as good as the original.

Mind you, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is certainly well made. The action is fast paced and exciting and, as in the last film, slow motion is generally employed to great effect - though I will admit that some might find it rather overused at times. Despite the changes in tone, the crucial elements that have always made Holmes stories so compelling – the character of Holmes and his relationship with Watson – are still pretty much intact. While this relationship between our protagonists is far more fractious than in Conan Doyle’s work, their many arguments provide some of the best scenes in the film and do not obscure how strong their friendship really is.

The film certainly isn’t perfect. There are numerous small plot holes and, while I’m no expert myself, the movie’s understanding of foreign affairs seems almost as bad as its predecessor’s understanding of domestic politics. All these, however, are easily forgotten and, if it wasn’t for an unlucky coincidence, I might have said that this is as good a Holmes film as we could have hoped for.

You shouldn’t expect an intellectual masterpiece from a Sherlock Holmes movie but I would at least hope for some sort of insight into our protagonists and interesting characterisation. Unfortunately the explosions and witty banter leave very little room for either. Indeed everybody outside of the main pair seems superfluous to requirements. After having been horribly misused in the first film Irene Adler is brought back only to be killed off in the first few scenes. One might think that this would have some significance later but she isn’t even mentioned past the half way point. The replacement as female lead (Rapace) is so completely undeveloped and utterly bland that I can’t even remember her character’s name.

This is certainly not a disaster, all the good points I made still apply. If you go and see this film you’ll probably enjoy yourselves – just don’t expect too much.