Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
A for entertainment! Better than I expected, definitely better than I feared, and 1000% gayer than I expected which is saying a lot considering the first one. Disclaimer: if I was 10x more likely to be kindly disposed towards a paean to the sweeping love of Professor X and Magneto, I was and am about 100x more likely to be kindly disposed towards a paean to the sweeping love of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. Which Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes movies are turning out to be. Like, even more so than the vein of Holmes-themed adaptations in general -- that movie was more than bromantic, it was romantic. Even Jude Law knows it.
Aside from that, though, A Game of Shadows was a straight-up entertaining film that rolled along fast enough to make me forgive its inconsistencies and thinner plot elements. The main weaknesses in plot were some individual clues in the mystery that didn't make sense, the lack of attention our scruffy heroes drew to themselves, and the way they wrote out Irene Adler -- which in itself, frankly, did not bother me, as every additional minute Rachel McAdams has spent in these movies has caused me a small degree of physical pain, but the plot point itself was weak. Pretty much everything else came rolled-up in the genre of steampunk action-adventure, but I suspect anyone who didn't want to see a steampunk action-adventure movie would not have come to see this film in the first place.
It was fun! Really fun. And funny, which was the important thing -- there was a lot of amazing stuff in the way of line delivery, reaction shots (esp. from Jude Law), and straight-up visual humor, which kept the whole thing from being tiresomely taken-too-seriously despite having a somewhat more serious tone than the first film. The franchise is making a solid choice in capitalizing on the fact that RDJ is an actor with a high charisma score and an exceptional level of cuteness, and lets him look unreasonable and cute more often than levelheaded and charming. Noomi Rapace and Jared Harris were good enough in their roles, but their Sebastian Moran was surprisingly cool (and, uh, dedicated to Moriarty), which I was happy about considering too many Holmes adaptations totally waste Moran in the first place.
My favorite thing about the Ritchie Holmes franchise is and continues to be Jude Law's John Watson. The rest of it is basically just bouncy and entertaining -- he's genuinely solid and serious in the role and lends the only real emotional heft to the films via his relationship with his frustrating Manic Pixie Dream Genius boyfriend. I think he's an exception in this case to the general idea that a handsomer actor will be less talented and less suited to an important role: he carries what's an otherwise silly and adrenaline-fueled story to being something you can bring yourself to invest in, and he's dead sexy. I will pretty much watch anything with Law!Watson in.
And RDJ looks pretty cute in lipstick.
ETA: AS![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
relia SO KINDLY REMINDED ME, SORRY SORRY STEPHEN FRY: MYCROFT! MYCROFT MYCROFT MYCROFT!
Aside from that, though, A Game of Shadows was a straight-up entertaining film that rolled along fast enough to make me forgive its inconsistencies and thinner plot elements. The main weaknesses in plot were some individual clues in the mystery that didn't make sense, the lack of attention our scruffy heroes drew to themselves, and the way they wrote out Irene Adler -- which in itself, frankly, did not bother me, as every additional minute Rachel McAdams has spent in these movies has caused me a small degree of physical pain, but the plot point itself was weak. Pretty much everything else came rolled-up in the genre of steampunk action-adventure, but I suspect anyone who didn't want to see a steampunk action-adventure movie would not have come to see this film in the first place.
It was fun! Really fun. And funny, which was the important thing -- there was a lot of amazing stuff in the way of line delivery, reaction shots (esp. from Jude Law), and straight-up visual humor, which kept the whole thing from being tiresomely taken-too-seriously despite having a somewhat more serious tone than the first film. The franchise is making a solid choice in capitalizing on the fact that RDJ is an actor with a high charisma score and an exceptional level of cuteness, and lets him look unreasonable and cute more often than levelheaded and charming. Noomi Rapace and Jared Harris were good enough in their roles, but their Sebastian Moran was surprisingly cool (and, uh, dedicated to Moriarty), which I was happy about considering too many Holmes adaptations totally waste Moran in the first place.
My favorite thing about the Ritchie Holmes franchise is and continues to be Jude Law's John Watson. The rest of it is basically just bouncy and entertaining -- he's genuinely solid and serious in the role and lends the only real emotional heft to the films via his relationship with his frustrating Manic Pixie Dream Genius boyfriend. I think he's an exception in this case to the general idea that a handsomer actor will be less talented and less suited to an important role: he carries what's an otherwise silly and adrenaline-fueled story to being something you can bring yourself to invest in, and he's dead sexy. I will pretty much watch anything with Law!Watson in.
And RDJ looks pretty cute in lipstick.
ETA: AS
relia SO KINDLY REMINDED ME, SORRY SORRY STEPHEN FRY: MYCROFT! MYCROFT MYCROFT MYCROFT!
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Yesssssssssssssssssss. I just saw this film today, and it pleased me. I was surprised that they killed Irene, but not very upset considering what they'd done with her character already. I was more worried that they'd go for a double-fridging and off Mary as well, particularly since Watson's wives are not very long-lived, but they did a fine job of making me enjoy the character while still delighting in Holmes and Watson and their MOVING ROMANCE. "Who taught you to dance?" oh my goodness. And though my feelings on Stephen Fry are lukewarm at best I loved every aspect of his Mycroft. I was surprised at how well the nudity worked.
Oh shit son I could go on, so I'll sum it up with: even though I knew perfectly well what was going to happen, the first shot of those falls filled me with dread. YAYE MOVIE.
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The pony. It was like a corgi in equine form. I like how he clearly didn't know how to stop a horse.
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(WILL NEVER STOP LAUGHING AT FAST-ACTING TUBERCULOSIS.)
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(I don't wonder if it was supposed to be some kind of open-ended bullshit excuse in case they want to bring McAdams back in the future?)
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(i read it as the poison or whatever he got her with damaged the crap out of her lungs, imitating the effects of tuberculosis. sort of like 'thirty-two stab wounds in the back, worst case of suicide they ever saw?')
(there's also a lot of clockwork/machinery riffs in the soundtrack. given the lavish and detailed shots of machinery in the movie, it's actually kind of neat.)