Sherlock Sequel Shines; ‘Impossible” Delivers
‘Sherlock Holmes’ review: Crime-fighting duo shines in sequel
December 16, 2011|By Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times Film Critic
Is “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” the ultimate disguise? Have they simply reimagined the legendary sleuth as a sort of grand mash-up of Eddie Izzard and the Terminator, which not only endows him with substantial brain and brawn but some very interesting wardrobe choices?
After the box-office success of 2009′s “Sherlock Holmes,” you knew the filmmakers would be pressed to find a way to up the ante. Nonstop action, a possible world war and cross-dressing are indeed the answer. That’s not altogether a bad decision, with “A Game of Shadows” a few shades brighter than its predecessor, and the action bits certainly closer to the full-throttle “Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels” mode director Guy Ritchie didn’t quite capture the first time.
In “A Game of Shadows,” with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law energetically reprising their roles as Holmes and Watson, the filmmakers have, in a sense, gotten both closer to and farther away from the original figment of Arthur Conan Doyle’s vivid imagination. They’ve gone bonkers with the disguises, taking them to extremes that are at times so absurd — and so transparent — it’s impossible not to laugh. But watching the mental gears turn as Holmes works toward solving the crimes in question, well, they could have used quite a bit more grease.
It is still the world of the late 1800s, though the mystery to be solved is very au courant with bombs exploding in public places, suspicious deaths of well-placed moguls, peace talks disrupted and munitions buildups underway across Europe. The film’s married screenwriting team, Michele and Kieran Mulroney, keep the dialogue crackling so smartly at times, that you sorely miss it when it doesn’t, which happens slightly too often during the 2-hour plus running time.
As the film opens, Watson is paying a visit to his occasional partner in solving crimes. His wedding to Mary (Kelly Reilly) is fast approaching and Holmes is to be his best man. The intrigues begin in earnest with the bachelor party Holmes throws at an eccentric gentleman’s club, in which none of Dr. Watson’s pals show up but two new characters do — a very wry Stephen Fry as Holmes’ brother, Mycroft, and a Gypsy fortuneteller Madam Simza Heron, played by Noomi Rapace.
Holmes has had a chance encounter (or was it) with the lovely Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams) who seemed clearly over her head in something that involves Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris, the age-old nemesis, but newly arrived to the films and as dapper as he is in “Mad Men”). Now Madam Simza seems to be tied up in Moriarty’s schemes too. Underground arms deals, an international political conflagration, the fate of Simza’s brother and Watson’s wedding hang in the balance. You know which of those Holmes will choose to focus on.
Indeed, Mary and Dr. John have barely said their “I do’s” before speeding trains, speeding bullets, major arms movements and complex action sequences overtake things. It’s all done to hair-raising, and in the case of a meat-hook late in the film, to “Hellraiser” effect.
As if to reassure us that Holmes is still a thinking man the filmmakers have him giving a lot of thought to the action, doing a better job this time around deconstructing his fights in his mind and in slow motion before they unfold in real time. It’s a great effect, but like much else in the movie, overused.
The new character additions are a draw. If you bother casting the terrific Rapace, who starred in the Swedish version of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” for heaven’s sakes give her something substantial to do. They don’t. On the other hand, the multi-talented Fry turns out to be smashing as Holmes’ quirky older brother.
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‘Mission: Impossible’ Matters Again With Gasp-Inducing ‘Ghost Protocol’
By Alonso DuraldeI
“The Incredibles” — for my money, still the best superhero movie ever made — somehow failed to convince you that Brad Bird is one of the great action directors of our time, check out Bird’s live-action debut, “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol.”
It’s a rousing gasp machine that gives the flagging franchise the kick in the pants it sorely needed, and it marks the most impressive segue from cartoons to features since “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.”
One of the film’s first on-screen credits proclaims that we’re watching “A TOM CRUISE PRODUCTION,” but Cruise himself seems hip to the fact that audiences these days prefer him (a) in small doses and (b) not trying so damn hard to charm us all the time.
Subsequently, “Ghost Protocol” (written by “Alias” vets Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec) not only gives us a brooding Agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise), now estranged from his wife under mysterious circumstances, but also honors the original “Mission: Impossible” by letting Hunt’s teammates share in the heavy lifting.
We meet Jane (Paula Patton) in Moscow, where she and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg, whose IMF technician character from “M:I III” has been promoted to field agent) are springing Ethan from prison — he’s been there for an unspecified period of time after murdering six Croatian agents. Jane and Benji are still reeling from the death of Hanaway (Josh Holloway), their comrade who was shot by a slinky assassin in the process of intercepting some Russian missile launch codes.
Those codes are headed to Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist, who played the journalist in the original Swedish “Millennium Trilogy” movies), an unhinged diplomat who thinks a little nuclear war is just the thing to send mankind toward the next step in its evolution.
Complicating matters is the fact that Hendricks has caused a major international incident — let’s just say he blows up the wrong building — and made it look it Hunt and his team were responsible. Disavowed by the government, the three of them, along with IMF desk jockey Brandt (Jeremy Renner), must go on a globetrotting mission to save the world.
“Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol” isn’t the kind of movie that’s going to inspire a lot of arguments about plot or character, obviously, but it delivers the jolts and the thrills non-stop. It’s become something of a given in this series that we’re going to see Cruise hanging off some dizzily high structure with one hand — this time it’s Dubai’s Khalifa Tower, the tallest building in the world — but Bird gets to put his own spin on things as well.
The director’s background in animation matches the material perfectly, from a high-tech hallway cloaking device that calls to mind Bugs Bunny painting a fake train tunnel on a wall to the tangibility of the computer-generated effects here. The CG fakery of movies like “Hugo” and “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” lacks a certain gravity, but when a car plummets to earth two feet behind Ethan, I jumped back in my seat.
