Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Review

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is the sequel to 2009’s Sherlock Holmes, both directed by Guy Ritchie. A Game of Shadows features the first appearance in this film series of Holmes’s most legendary antagonist, professor James Moriarty, played by Jared Harris, adding to an already stellar cast, including Jude Law as Dr John Watson and Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes himself. Holmes attempts to put a stop to Moriarty’s vile machinations before they reach their crescendo, as Moriarty attempts to start a world war, so that he may supply arms to the nations involved, leaving him very, very wealthy.

Am I the only one who feels that the whole “start a war, sell weapons to everybody in the war… profit?” idea has been done to death and beyond at this stage? As unoriginal, and at times convoluted as the plot may be, it still had me more interested than the first film’s efforts, although by a fairly narrow margin.

Ultimately, A Game of Shadows, whilst being a slight improvement over the first, still suffers from all the same problems that stopped it’s predecessor reaching any sort of memorable status. Namely, while Robert Downey Jr. has only improved and evolved following what was already a very impressive performance as Holmes, and while Jude Law does a great job as Watson, they still don’t really have anything interesting to do. Given that Moriarty is supposed to be one of the most intelligent, brilliant criminals of all time, Holmes’s equal in many regards, the fact that the story really couldn’t have been a little more creative was a real disappointment.

As with the first instalment, the question must be asked: what would the film had if Robert Downey Jr was taken out of the main role? The answer, as with last time, seems to be: not much. That said, I like Jared Harris as Moriarty, he is believable as someone possessing genius level intellect, and the films best scenes centre around the intellectual tussle between Moriarty and Holmes. However, when Moriarty isn’t on screen, there isn’t that sense that he really is pulling the strings behind the scenes, as many memorable antagonists have had in the past.

Another problem is the films action scenes. The choreography is fine, and Holmes’s clairvoyant like planning out of an entire skirmish is still entertaining, but they are shot in a way that makes it extremely difficult to keep up with what’s going on. It isn’t so much the speed of the cuts, it’s more the camera angles, the camera seems to be jumping all over the place, and it’s difficult to readjust your eyes before the camera cuts again. It results in a jarring experience, and makes the action, well choreographed as it is, difficult to keep up with.

Did I enjoy a game of shadows? Yes. Do I recommend it? Tentatively, yes. Had it wanted to be more than a typical action film, it could have been, and it means that the film wastes a lot of it’s potential. That said, if all you want is to kill a few hours, then Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows will do the job better than a lot of films in the action genre, and you should check it out.

Overall: 63/100

The Dark Knight Rises Trailer: My Thoughts

Let me begin this by saying that I think Christopher Nolan is the closest thing humanity has to a God. The man's directoral record speaks for its self. Very few directors ever manage to craft a masterpiece in their career. Christopher Nolan is 41 years old, has yet to make a bad film, and already has two masterpieces two his name. One was the best film of 2010 and one of the greatest films ever made, perhaps the greatest, Inception. And the other was The Dark Knight. The Dark Knight Rises is the sequel to The Dark Knight, and the first full trailer for it was released quite recently. Here are my thoughts on it.

Short Version: MUST. SEE. NOW.

Long version
The trailer starts off on a decent enough note, young boy singing the american national anthem, setting the scene, kinda chilling, good so far, we get a nice shot of Bane, Michael Caine gives his customary monologue, more heartfelt than his previous ones, as he laments on his inability to protect Bruce Wayne. From what, we may ask? From The Joker? From the backlash of Gotham? From Bane? From himself? Questions abound. We also find out that Commissioner Gordan has fallen out of favour with the powers that be, and will be given the boot, as Gotham enjoys a period of peacetime. Anne Hathaway looks good as we get our first look at her portrayal of Selina Kyle, better known as Catwoman. For me, the trailer has two real highlights, both coming one after the other. The first is a majestic set piece, showing the destruction of a football field, in what is one of the greatest shots I think I've ever seen, that I really can't do justice to with words, it needs to be seen. The other is the moment that I knew that Bane was going to be a great villain, which comes directly after. It features Bane, standing over Batman, who is unmasked by the way, looking down at him, and delivering his only line of dialogue from the trailer: "When Gotham is ashes... you have my permission to die". That was the moment when I felt that Bane was at least as intimidating as The Joker, if not more so. This is the hero of the story, seemingly beaten down by Bane, who then says "Only after I destroy everything you hold dear, after I obliterate everything you stand to protect, then, I will allow you to die". It's immensely powerful, and downright terrifying, as Bane asserts his dominance over the knight. And that I think is the most key difference between Bane and The Joker, Bane is dominant over Batman. The last clip at the end of the teaser trailer added to this as well, as we see Batman really on the backfoot, not afraid, but completely at a loss, his posture almost screaming out "I can't win here". That's what makes Bane more intimidating than The Joker in my view, while The Dark Knight centered around Batman trying to figure out how to stop The Joker, the two trailers seem to be hinting at Batman coming to grips with the fact that maybe he can't stop Bane.

The Dark Knight Rises is due for worldwide release in July 2012. Do. Not. Miss. It

"The Only Conversation Worth Having"

Today, the 15th of December, 2011, the world has lost the greatest writer and speaker of our time: Christopher Hitchens. In my opinion, Christopher Hitchens embodied everything that was good about humanity. He valued reason above all else, he fought against immorality and irrationallity, and was intellectually untouchable. He changed my life, and many others. I could never write anything that could do justice to Christopher Hitchens, so allow me to just quote what I believe are his most beautiful words. Goodbye Christopher. Your body and consciousness may be gone. But the lessons that I learned from you shall never be forgotten. Thank you.

I’ll close on the implied question that Bill asked me earlier: Why don’t you accept this wonderful offer? Why wouldn’t you like to meet Shakespeare, for example?
I don’t know if you really think that when you die you can be corporeally reassembled, and have conversations with authors from previous epochs. It’s not necessary that you believe that in Christian theology, and I have to say that it sounds like a complete fairy tale to me. The only reason I’d want to meet Shakespeare, or might even want to, is because I can meet him, any time, because he is immortal in the works he’s left behind. If you’ve read those, meeting the author would almost certainly be a disappointment.
But when Socrates was sentenced to death for his philosophical investigations, and for blasphemy for challenging the gods of the city — and he accepted his death — he did say, well, if we are lucky, perhaps I’ll be able to hold conversation with other great thinkers and philosophers and doubters too. In other words the discussion about what is good, what is beautiful, what is noble, what is pure, and what is true could always go on.
Why is that important, why would I like to do that? Because that’s the only conversation worth having. And whether it goes on or not after I die, I don’t know. But I do know that that’s the conversation I want to have while I’m still alive. Which means that to me, the offer of certainty, the offer of complete security, the offer of an impermeable faith that can’t give way, is an offer of something not worth having. I want to live my life taking the risk all the time that I don’t know anything like enough yet; that I haven’t understood enough; that I can’t know enough; that I’m always hungrily operating on the margins of a potentially great harvest of future knowledge and wisdom. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
And I’d urge you to look at… those people who tell you, at your age, that you’re dead till you believe as they do — what a terrible thing to be telling to children! And that you can only live by accepting an absolute authority — don’t think of that as a gift. Think of it as a poisoned chalice. Push it aside however tempting it is. Take the risk of thinking for yourself. Much more happiness, truth, beauty, and wisdom will come to you that way.