Game of Shadows presents several instances where the detective's vulnerabilities are seemingly going to be explored at greater depth - only to drop those opportunities in favor of another action sequence. One particularly admirable thing about the first film is that it lends some complexity to Holmes' character: Despite all his manic bravado, the film revealed that Holmes is actually isolated and lonely as a result of his brilliance and analytical prowess - as was wonderfully illustrated in the scene where Holmes, Watson and Mary sat down to dinner for the first time in the first film. Also wasted are the talents of actors like Fry and Rapace, whose characters are little more than hollow plot devices that help push Holmes and Watson toward their next destination. Whether due to the nonstop onslaught of action, or the simple fact that they are too cool for significant emoting (even when called for), the whole Holmes/Watson relationship troubles are a flimsy, peripheral plot point, masked as understated inference.
Game of Shadows contains a subplot dealing with the dwindling bromance between the detective and his associate, as Watson tries to embrace his new life with Mary, sans his eccentric friend. The other downside of the film is that it is very shallow in terms of character development. And like the first film, the use of flashbacks - revealing that previous moments in the film were not at all what we'd assumed - still teeters dangerously close to line of deus ex machina (not that many viewers will notice, or particularly care). In trying to (once again) bend the facts of history to suit the fiction of their story, the screenwriters ultimately fail to concoct a scheme worthy of the evil genius hatching it. Some viewers may buy into the notion that Moriarty and Holmes' cat-and-mouse game is actually smart in its twists and turns - but really this is your standard point A to point B to point C movie, and most of the so-called "twists" are anything but.Īs someone who was critical of the first film's approach to "mystery," I can say that Game of Shadows made me yearn for the faux-supernatural parlor tricks of Lord Blackwood.
That all said, however, the story (by relatively untested screenwriters Michele Mulroney and Kieran Mulroney) is very formulaic in its progression, and basically amounts to Holmes and Watson traipsing through Europe from set piece to set piece.
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