Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

So after the great success of the first film, Sherlock Holmes returns with “A Game of Shadows”. Robert Downey Jnr. And Jude Law return as their characters, Sherlock and Dr Watson respectively. However is it as good as the first one? No is the simple answer, but that is why I am here to review it.

Guy Ritchie recreated the Sherlock for a younger audience with an attractive cast, brilliant action and excellent wit. Well all of the above returns, but something is missing. I can’t quite put my finger on it. I have spoken to a few other people that I know love the Sherlock films, a couple said they thought it was better than the first and some thought it was much worse than the first. I however sit in the middle.

After watching this film, the phrase “If it isn’t broken, DON’T fix it”, comes to mind. All the mechanics of the film work, the action scenes with Sherlock narrating what he is going to do with his opponent are genius and I was so glad when watching, that they had returned. The chemistry between Law and Downey Jnr. is spot on.

Mulling over it, I believe that the story could have possibly the problem, but even that wasn’t bad. Maybe it was the mystery of magic that kept the first one from being like this one. In this sequel the infamous character of Professor Moriarty (played by Jared Harris)  is introduced, it shows that he has the same intelligence and forethought as Sherlock and this makes him his ultimate adversary.

It starts with some explosive scenes with Sherlock having to try to dispose of a bomb after he follows Irene Adler (His love interest and played by Rachel McAdams). Irene escapes and it is then shown to the audience that she is in actual fact working for Professor Moriarty. She fails with her mission of trying to kill her target, thus Professor Moriarty disposes of her. (Although the audience never really finds out what fate was handed to her). So Sherlock finds out and wants revenge. This takes Sherlock and Watson to places like Paris and Switzerland.

The soundtrack, like the last, is excellent and really adds to the time period in which it is set.

So all I can do now is, tell you to go and see it as it is worth watching but whether you will find it better than the last is another question. All I can say Is I hope you enjoy as I did.

Overall, a good film, but definitely not as good as the first.

The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus

The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus

This is the second DVD I chose in the offer, along with “the infidel” and immediately like many other I was drawn in by 2 things:

The Imaginarium Of Dr Parnassus Poster

1.       The ensemble cast. Christopher Plummer, Andrew Garfield, Heath Ledger, Colin Farrell, Jude Law and of course Johnny Depp.

2.       The death of Heath Ledger. Like many people it was upsetting to see one of the worlds finest young actors die, however I wanted to see his performance post Dark Knight, to see if he was as good as he was in the Dark Knight.

When I first saw the trailer I didn’t think very much of it, however my fiancée persuaded me to watch it, unfortunately I was right with my first instincts, the ensemble cast are excellent and the acting that they provide for the viewer is nothing short of excellent, however this is where the positives stop.

I will start with a basic statement which popped into my head within the first 30 seconds:

“OH MY GOD!, THIS IS SO WEIRD”

I looked at my fiancée, she looked at me and we both mouthed

“WHAAAAAAAT THE HELL!”

Now, I know I said I was going to stop with the positives however, the one more positive I will say is that the film is beautiful on a high definition TV (I can’t speak for a standard television). The film is excellently shot and is one of the real stand out things about the movie.

The film isn’t bad, its just weird…………very weird. I think this distracts from the story itself, you are so overwhelmed by what is happening that you completely forget what the story is about.

Basically its about a travelling troupe including Christopher Plummer (Dr Parnassus), Lily Cole (Valentina), Andrew Garfield (Anton) and Vern Troyer (Percy), they each have their own roles, and initially I didn’t understand as to why they were doing what they were doing, until I realised that the characters are in fact portraying God (Christopher Plummer) and his disciples, then the devil pops up in to the story which changes the dynamic, he keeps an eye on this troupe, because God is trying to put together 12 disciples again to what I could gather end the war between good and evil. However Heath Ledger is found hanging from a bridge and God believes he could be a good disciple, however Heath’s character can’t remember anything, thus is useless, until the Devil proposes a game in which the first to 5 souls wins the war, from then on, all different manor of things happen.

It just gets weirder and weirder and weirder. There’s so much weird that its hard to follow.

Unfortunately it had no redeeming qualities, and to be quite honest I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, because it will just have you asking yourself questions, one of them being:

“Why!”