Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows Blu-ray Review

10th May 2012

Holmes (Robert Doeny Jr.) and Watson (Jude Law) are back in this second Victorian outing under the gaze of director Guy Ritchie. It’s faster, funnier and has even more focus on the back and forth friendship of the two leads.

This time Holmes is already neck deep in his pursuit of Professor Moriarty (played with relish by Jared Harris). Watson is out of the picture and on the eve of getting married until Holmes’ ventures drag the good doctor back in. The two end up trailing into Europe to stop the professor’s schemes and unveiling his domination plans.

Noomi Rapace is pleasant enough as the gipsy girl that aids them in their cause, but it is Jared Harris who steals most of the film’s thunder as the evil nemesis. His rapport with Downy Jr. really helps up the ante of the game. And when this is not on, then we have plenty of Downey/ Law onscreen antics as the pair picker and fight their way through every situation.

The style and humour are largely very similar to the first film. So it goes without saying that your response to this film is likely to be similar to that one. There’s more pre-cog fights (this time with a couple of clever twists), plenty of Holmes deducing with his wild eyes, and plenty of mad cap experiments for Watson to get freaked out about. And we also get the added bonus of a naked Stephen fry this time round.

The picture quality is really up to scratch – but then we’d expect no less from a large release like this. There is an assorted list of extras including the main feature Maximum Movie Mode that the first film also utilized – allowing a presenter to pop on screen and talk through the making of the film, whilst being aided by a variety of visual aids and videos. Basically it is a glorified commentary track and although they got Downey Jr. to host it, there are still far too many long sections where you are just watching the film and not getting enough background info.

All in all though this quibble is hardly going to put anyone off wanting this sequel that is in every way the equal to its predecessor.