Robert accomplishes the impossible

MANILA, Philippines - Film review: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Robert Downey Jr. has accomplished the impossible. He is the first actor to succeed as two different superheroes on film. I know. Sylvester Stallone was both Rocky and Rambo and Arnold Swarzenegger was The Terminator and something else. All that they changed in those cases though were the names and the settings. The grunts were exactly the same.

But did you ever think of Christopher Reeve as anybody but Superman? Do you think Spidey Toby Maguire will dare to wear another hero’s costume? Well, you can maybe say that Charlton Heston was both Moses and Ben Hur and he was big. Being both Sherlock Holmes and Iron Man is not of the same dimension but it is really quite a feat.

For a while though I feared that we have now lost the Downey of old. Remember him in Less Than Zero, Chances Are, U.S. Marshals, Chaplin and others. Never a misstep in any of those. He was, each time, an actor stepping naturally into a role. And also so naturally did he step into the shoes of the new Sherlock Holmes.

Downey as Sherlock is back in A Game Of Shadows, the second film in what is now a lucrative movie franchise. Director Guy Ritchie, who reinvented Arthur Conan Doyle’s great detective for our times, is once more at the helm. It is as witty, as funny and even bigger than we thought it should be after his fantastic first attempt two years ago.

The plot this time around comes from Doyle’s story, The Final Problem, which features Sherlock arch opponent Professor Moriarty. The fiend Blackwood from the first film is no match for this one. The guy is said to be Sherlock’ equal in almost everything. He has the physical prowess, the cunning, powers of deduction and the mind of a modern-day criminal. Why, his dastardly plot involves throwing Europe into war from which he could profit financially. Now, that is investment-savvy. I do not think Sherlock is gifted with that.

I do not think Doyle ever thought of a Moriarty as an epic plotter but since we cannot see Sherlock anymore as confined in 221 B Baker St., solving crimes from an armchair, post-Ritchie. Then it is only right that he gets the villain he deserves. Moriarty, played by Jared Harris, is up to the task, although it would have been better had he looked less the nice professor and more of a sneering heavy.

 A mystery plot though, even one that could throw Europe into war, is but a minor ingredient in this sort of Sherlock Holmes flick. Nice to have something to string a story together, but all the laughs and eye candy come from watching Downey as Sherlock and Jude Law as Dr. Watson. This is a brilliant piece of casting. They look like they are really enjoying themselves. The friendship they have comes across as genuine. It is also the kind that girls hate to find in their boyfriends and their best male friends. The question often asked is, why does he have more fun with him than with me? 

The females of Sherlock 2 got a heavy dose of this situation. Watson’s wedding almost didn’t push through and honeymoon with Mary is rudely interrupted because of Sherlock and a new case that cannot wait. Even Irene Adler who is said to be the only woman ever to capture Sherlock’s attention is reduced to a brief appearance. Maybe she will get more footage in the third Holmes. The gypsy Simza gets to join the boys in their adventure, that takes them around Europe, but it is clear in every frame that the love team here is Sherlock and Watson. And I admit I love watching the two very talented, most attractive actors together. 

Now, while Downey and Law bring a lot into their roles, the whole film is all Ritchie’s doing. I see a firm hand throughout and a more confident approach to the material that makes this one miles better than the first. The pace is also not as frenetic and allows for some thinking moments. This is formula at work but the intelligent sort.

Ritchie is technically on top of his game. Music, design, camera work, even CGI are topnotch. He incorporates his trademark shots with beautiful images of Victorian England, integrates flashbacks and thought patterns at just the right moments, and of course, cleverly puts the whole film together with just the right sense of humor.