Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Ok for kids. Not too violent, no sex or adult situations, only slight innuendo.

I love the Sherlock Holmes movies with RDJ. Will most likely be watching again.

This movie is great. The chemistry between Watson and Holmes is just entertaining. Sure, for you "Its not as good as the books" people it might be a bit too action packed but very good movie. In my opinion this one is far better than the first one. The first one is great too but Lord Blackwood felt like a side villain compared to Moriarty. A must watch!

Guy Ritchie's first 'Sherlock Holmes' was a decent, if completely forgettable attempt to reboot/remake the classic Sir Arthur Conan Doyle characters for a modern-movie audience. Now 'Sherlock Holmes:Game of Shadows' is out and while I don't think it comes any closer to successfully rebooting the franchise, as a sequel it makes a remarkable number of improvements and ends up being a very entertaining film.The main story of 'Game of Shadows' has Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson investigating a series of bombings and assassinations that put them on the trail, and in the cross-hairs of arch-criminal Professor Moriarty and master sniper Sebastian Moran. The plot in this film has some fun twists and turns as Holmes and Watson team up with a mysterious gypsy and Holmes' older brother Mycroft, but it's the battle of wits between Sherlock and the Professor that keeps this film engaging; Moriarty is a dangerous and diabolical adversary which raises the stakes in this film head-and-shoulders above it's predecessor.The acting in 'Game of Shadows' is much more level-headed than the first 'Sherlock Holmes' and therefore easier to swallow: Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law's Holmes and Watson act less like a bickering couple and more like long-time friends who actually care about each other. Stephen Fry brings dry-wit and welcome comic relief as Mycroft Holmes. Noomi Rapace is great but seems wasted in a smaller part as the gypsy. Rachael McAdams, who I couldn't stand as Irene Adler in the first film makes a surprisingly welcome (if brief) appearance in the film. As good as these actors are however it's Jared Harris as Professor Moriarty who ignites the screen and the scenes between him and Downey Jr. are nail-bitingly tense.As with everything else in 'Game of Shadows', the camera-work is an improvement over the original 'Sherlock Holmes' though is still a bit overblown. The slow-motion, rewinding-hand-to-hand combat scenes are much more fun as things don't always go the way Holmes plans. The more open environments in this film add to the atmosphere and make the action seem less artificial. Ritchie still favors super-close-ups and a bit too much slow-to-fast motion (I couldn't tell what was going on during one particular chase scene through a forest) but overall the movie stays coherent from beginning to end.As I've said: Guy Ritchie's 'Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows' is far from a successful reboot of the Holmes/Conan Doyle characters (and still carries a lot of pointless disguises and sight-gags), but as a sequel that gets right what it's predecessor got wrong it stands as a very fun movie experience.

Dear Warner Brothers,I am unpleased with my recent purchase of the Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows Blu-ray + DVD + Ultraviolet pack. The fact that the Ultraviolet version is not compatible with my iTunes library renders the purchase useless. There is only one reason to buy these multi format discs and that is to be able to play the content on my devices any where I choose to enjoy them. Had I realized that this was the case before Pre-ordering the movie on Amazon, I would have purchased the Blu-ray only version. That is Amazons fault for not making it clear what we were getting with our pre-order. I have not had this issue with other WB movies purchased so I had no reason to believe there would be an issue and I assume it is a new practice. I also take issue with the fact that it was not made obvious that the "Digital Copy" was a proprietary format that requires me to sign up for Ultraviolet and Flixster accounts and go through the Rube Goldbergian process of linking those accounts which is, to say the least, not user friendly. I understand that iTunes and Apple are a thorn in the side of both the Music and Movie industries and Ultraviolet is your attempt to wrest control from them, but the fact is it's only making the end consumer angry and frustrated that you don't see consumer satisfaction as what should drive you, not over throwing iTunes. Do the math... there are more iDevices than any other platform out there but you made this movie incompatible with the system that controls those iDevices. I don't see this changing in the near future. Its time to make it JUST WORK.Ultraviolet will only work on a Mac with the download of the Flixster client app and an Ultraviolet account linked to Flixster and will not load into iTunes. So if you hope to use the "UV Digital Copy" with Apple TV you are out of luck. Have fun getting the two accounts linked together. That process alone took 45 Minutes due to server errors and pages not loading all the way.As for the Movie itself... It is another fantastic mystery wrapped in an enigma, thrill ride. Robert Downey and Jude Law play off each other very well. Great fun.

Overacted drivel. Don't understand why Jude Law would want to star in such a film. First 20 minutes is excruciatingly bad to watch and it just gets worse. Not sure what others who have reviewed this film are watching and have given good reviews, but we thought it was utter rubbish. Its now firmly in the bin!

FOLLOWING ON FROM THE RAPID SUCCESS OF THE FIRST FILM, I WAS REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS SEQUEL. I HAVE TO BE HONEST, ON MY FIRST VIEWING I FELT LET DOWN BY THE STORY AND THE FILM DIDNT HAVE THE SAME ENERGY AS THE FIRST. ROBERT DOWNEY JR AND JUDE LAW PLAYED THEIR ROLES WITH THE SAME CLASS AND VIGOUR BUT IT SEEMED DIFFERENT FROM THE FIRST.SO I WATCHED IT AGAIN...AND AGAIN ..AGAIN.THE STORY IS DIFFERENT, BECAUSE THERE IS MUCH MORE STORY THIS TIME TO THE FILM. ALTHOUGH THERE ARE NUMEROUS SPECIAL FX FLOWING THROUGH THE FILM, BUT TAKING IN THE STORYLINE INTO ACCOUNT ..WOW ITS A PROPER MINDBENDER.TRY IT OR BUY IT... WATCH IT TWICE...THREE TIMES IT WONT DISSAPPOINT.

i first watched this when it originally came out,and after buying it cheap for something to watch over xmas i was amazed how similar it is to the brilliant 'SHERLOCK' bbc1 series.not sure which creator was influenced by which but basically if you love SHERLOCK you'll love this.its obviously set in the 'jack the ripper era'not present day like the bbc series but the modern filming/effects style,witty and clever script and the Holmes character (played brilliantly by Robert Downey Jr)are virtually the same.this is the 2nd film,watch its prequel just titled'sherlock holmes'first.you won't be disappointed!

Watched this last night and although I enjoyed it and it is in no way a bad film, I found that Guy has this time gone all out with the special effects, photography and action but forgotten one fairly important ingredient - a good story!! The plot was very thin and only served as a backing for the action. I also found the slo-mo a bit tiresome after a while, even though it was well done. Still prefer the first movie and hope that if he does a third one he cuts out some of the flashy photography and brings back a bit more in the way of a story. Enjoyable but could have been so much better IMHO.

We love both Sherlock Holmes DVDs.My husband and son were a bit sceptical at first, thinking who wants to watch boring ol' Sherlock Holmes,but its pretty entertaining from beginning to end.Of course, there are many things one can criticise about. but if you look at it purely for entertainment, then its definitely a 5-star!Also, you really need to concentrate right from the start; probably wise not to be texting at the same time as you might then need to rewind to see what you've missed and why it doesn't make sense (speaking from experience of course :)