This can ostensibly be said about a lot of modern films, but it’s particularly apt here. While things like Transformers or G.I. Joe could be (thinly) excused by cries of “It’s the first live-action film adaptation!” and “Property is abandoned in cinema for years”, this is not the case here. There were many great films about Holmes in the past: right now there’s excellent Sherlock and Elementary on TV. Faced up to them, this “work” has little to offer.
Sure, the CGI is pretty and Ritchie does give some good slo-mo shots when artillery fires at the duo in the forest. Besides that, everything collapses. The characters are paper-thin, and actors are plainly wasted in their roles, unable to muster much excitement for any of them. Moriarty mauling Holmes' arm while singing to German opera was the only genuine highlight of otherwise dull character scenes. The storyline is either ludicrous (bomb-maker shooting himself with lame excuse), painfully predictable (box with IED inside) or both (I genuinely rolled my eyes at Adler’s poisoning) and plotholes are abound. There is persistent gay subtext between Sherlock and Watson, which is not unfounded (they did frequent communal baths together after all), but here it’s so transparent and flamboyant (when Holmes was always inside armored closet in the books), that it soon becomes grating and serves no point other than to provide cheap laughs.
To round it off, Sherlock’s method, which should have been the main draw, is filmed so quickly it barely has time to register, let alone have impact: the 5-second silent montage of Sherlock discovering hidden tunnel through finding a red wine drop on the wall (or something of a kind) is the worst offender. Instead, in a clear case of misjudged priorities, we get long, detailed background narration when the “Holmes-a-vision” is used: a gimmick that is not without promise, but is unbelievably ridiculous in its current form and drains any pretence of tension from the fights when it's used. The other combat encounters (like machine gun sequence on a train) impress only through the cinematography, as there is never a sense of protagonists being in danger.
All in all, the film might be competent on the technical level, but it's a poor adaptation and a bad film, with a gaping black hole for its heart, brain, and everything else.
Game of Shadows: slick, dumb, incongruous cash-grab
This can ostensibly be said about a lot of modern films, but it’s particularly apt here. While things like Transformers or G.I. Joe could be (thinly) excused by cries of “It’s the first live-action film adaptation!” and “Property is abandoned in cinema for years”, this is not the case here. There were many great films about Holmes in the past: right now there’s excellent Sherlock and Elementary on TV. Faced up to them, this “work” has little to offer.
Sure, the CGI is pretty and Ritchie does give some good slo-mo shots when artillery fires at the duo in the forest. Besides that, everything collapses. The characters are paper-thin, and actors are plainly wasted in their roles, unable to muster much excitement for any of them. Moriarty mauling Holmes' arm while singing to German opera was the only genuine highlight of otherwise dull character scenes. The storyline is either ludicrous (bomb-maker shooting himself with lame excuse), painfully predictable (box with IED inside) or both (I genuinely rolled my eyes at Adler’s poisoning) and plotholes are abound. There is persistent gay subtext between Sherlock and Watson, which is not unfounded (they did frequent communal baths together after all), but here it’s so transparent and flamboyant (when Holmes was always inside armored closet in the books), that it soon becomes grating and serves no point other than to provide cheap laughs.
To round it off, Sherlock’s method, which should have been the main draw, is filmed so quickly it barely has time to register, let alone have impact: the 5-second silent montage of Sherlock discovering hidden tunnel through finding a red wine drop on the wall (or something of a kind) is the worst offender. Instead, in a clear case of misjudged priorities, we get long, detailed background narration when the “Holmes-a-vision” is used: a gimmick that is not without promise, but is unbelievably ridiculous in its current form and drains any pretence of tension from the fights when it's used. The other combat encounters (like machine gun sequence on a train) impress only through the cinematography, as there is never a sense of protagonists being in danger.
All in all, the film might be competent on the technical level, but it's a poor adaptation and a bad film, with a gaping black hole for its heart, brain, and everything else.