Sherlock Holmes is, oddly enough, one of those intellectual properties that actually isn’t know amazingly well. I was talking to someone about this movie and they had no idea who Moriarty was, which shocked me more than a bit. Holmes is known as being the greatest detective that fiction has ever produced and his partnership with a certain Dr. Watson is very well known, but not a lot of the details of his stories are common knowledge to the public. This, being the Holmes fan that I am, angers me greatly. I actually did enjoy the first Sherlock Holmes film. True it was more than a bit action filled compared to the actual stories but the case was solid, the use of the one-shot Irene Adler as a foil to Holmes was interesting and the interaction between Downey Jr.’s Holmes and Law’s Watson was absolutely amazing. They played off each other wonderfully and acted much like I imagine the two characters would. And after seeing this, I was really looking forward to Guy Ritchie’s effort in the sequel. I was one of the few in the crowd of the original squealing like the fanboy I am when they even so much as mentioned a certain Professor Moriarty. After hearing this, I knew there would be a sequel and I knew he would be the villain and I could not wait. Let’s actually start.

The plot starts off much like a Bond movie, with the movie actually beginning with Holmes already on a case. I’ve always liked this way of jumping right into the action, especially in a sequel. No introductions necessary. But yeah, it begins with Irene Adler being followed by Holmes and the shenanigans that go from there, ending with the assassination of a doctor by an agent of the brilliant Professor Moriarty. From this point on the story goes into a tour around europe in an attempt to stop the schemes of the Professor. This actually works amazingly well, dragging you in as the professor’s plot is covered in shadows for a very large part of the movie, as it should be. The plot is intriguing and very large in it’s reach. I actually don’t want to say much on this, except that it’s fantastic, mainly because the story is a very classic Holmes style detective case and if I say that much…well it’s completely ruined and I really don’t want to do that to everyone reading this BAHAHAH like I have readers.

The characters are a lot more of what you have come to expect after the first movie. As far as returning characters, Holmes and Watson return (obviously), Amy Adams’ Irene Adler returns, along with the primary villain of Moriarty. However new characters include a gypsy woman who helps the partners cross all of euprope without having to bother with borders, Watson’s wife Mary, and also a very out of nowhere Stephen Fry as Mycroft Holmes. There is actually one absolutely amazing scene involving a very casually naked Mycroft Holmes and Mary that is absolutely hilarious. But the characters are brilliant and witty and the back and forth between Holmes and Watson is as hilarious as ever. However, you combine that with new scenes of dialogue featuring the intellectual workings of both Moriarty and Holmes and things get even more interesting. The two men are evenly matched and it makes the conversations between them intriguing as you can almost see the gears working in their heads (and can see the inner workings more than a few times).

This is where things drastically differ from the last one though: the action scenes. There were a few very vital action scenes in the first scenes in the first one but they weren’t nearly as essential as they are in this movie. However, this time the hits come hard which, considering this is a Holmes movie, seems a little out of place. Let me put this in context though, there aren’t enough explosions to fuel a Michael Bay movie but there are still an odd amount for a detective movie. I know that Moriarty’s plot revolves around this sort of thing but it still seems out of place. Once again, don’t want to reveal much, just trust me on this one. However, the whole slow motion for Holmes’ mind is back and just as awesome as before which was definitely nice to see. There is an AMAZINGLY awesome twist on this at the end but I’ll save that for you to enjoy.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is actually a pretty fantastic movie. Much like the first, the cast is solid and the returning characters are excellent with some new amazing additions. The action seems a little bit out of nowhere for a detective movie, although it is well done and extremely entertaining. The ending…actually pissed me off a little bit due to…well circumstances in a certain Sherlock Holmes story that I choose to not mention as it reveals aforementioned ending. But yeah, ending annoyed me. Besides that I gotta say, a definite four out of five stars from me. It was thoroughly entertaining and if you liked the first one you HAVE to see this one.