Movie Review: Sherlock Holmes - A Game of Shadows

Trilogies can be tricky. Often there's a strong first that is based on a good idea. It's highly profitable so a second is demanded. But the second movie is forced. There's no great idea that inspires the script, just the promise of payment. The third is just done because they want to be able to call it a trilogy. No real motivation for the writers at all. This pretty much defines everything Disney does. They're an empire of sequels.

The first movie also has the benefit of introducing viewers to a interesting new world. By the second they know the world so the writers have to introduce something new. This constant need for newness and discovery is why shows like Star Trek, The A-Team, The Incredible Hulk, Quantum Leap, and countless others do well. Each episode takes the familiar characters into a completely new setting.

There are other kinds of trilogies. Those that have a weak second movie only because it's leading to a strong third. The initial Star Wars trilogy, for example. Or the Back to the Future trilogy. The Matrix trilogy tried to do this, but it turned out the second and third movies were both part of the ill conceived and very forced second movie mentioned in the beginning.

There are exceptions. There are those rare occasions where a surprisingly good movie with a small budget inspires someone to use that to make a grand second movie. "Terminator 2" and "Chronicles of Riddick" come to mind. Note that there was a sizable gap between the first and the second movies as the stories needed time to come together. The upcoming "Star Trek 2" should also be pretty good as everyone involved wants to make sure that they're making something good instead of Star Trek for the sake of Star Trek. If they screw up here they've brought back Star Trek just to kill it again. And "The Dark Knight" wasn't planned when they did "Batman Begins", but they only pushed ahead when they had a good idea for the second movie. This coming third movie seems there only because it was insisted upon to have a trilogy. Hopefully it's good, because that will help them with their plans to adapt "The Dark Knight Returns" in 10-20 years.

"Men in Black 2" was a forced movie with nothing particularly new. "Men in Black 3" takes the known characters to a new time. It's also removed from the originals by enough that I have to think someone finally came up with a good idea.

There's another type of trilogy. One that was always meant as a trilogy. Lord of the Rings is a good example. The Sherlock Holmes movies are proving to be another. They started with a grand idea that would take three movies to tell properly. But the Sherlock Holmes movies can each stand on their own in a way that the Lord of the Rings movies can't. You can walk into this second Sherlock Holmes movie without having seen the first and you shouldn't be lost. It'll still be nice if you've a passing familiarity with the characters, but not vital.

If I've been willing to blather on for this long in a movie review you already have some idea what I think of it. It's either damn good or something that would get you caned in Malaysia. (Have you contributed to the Send Uwe Boll to Malaysia Fund, yet?)

One could argue about how this Sherlock Holmes departs from the characters developed by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle once upon a time. It seems to me the adjustment is like adjusting any mention of currency for inflation. You couldn't compare the sales of Doyle's books to the earnings of modern books without adjusting his earnings for inflation and you can compare his characters to these without taking into consideration a change in society. There's plenty of modern adaptations of Shakespeare that don't get similar complaints. Holmes has always been a bit of a manic thrill seeker with no compunctions about getting into drugs or fights when be became bored due to a lax caseload.

Some of Holmes' tricks will be old if you've seen the first movie. Such as the way he analyzes his fights before getting into them. But this new movie throws a few twists into that as well as introducing a few new interesting elements. And Watson really comes into his own, both as a man of action and as a pretty good detective of his own. Plus we get to meet Moriarty and see his and Holmes' minds work against each other. By the way, props to Michele and Kieran Mulroney (the writers) for showing Professor Moriary as a professor instead of just a clever guy with a title.

Yes, I will be getting this on DVD. I may even see it in theaters again before it closes. And when the next one comes out I'll be there on opening weekend.