A lot of people have been waiting impatiently for the next installment in Guy Ritchie’s “Sherlock Holmes” series, “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.” However, it’s making news as not busting critical records either.
According to Rotten Tomatoes, the film, starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law, the film has garnered a critical rating of 59%. The audience, however, has given the film a very high 85%.
According to the site, the critics felt that “‘Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows’ is a good yarn thanks to its well-matched leading men but overall stumbles duplicating the well-oiled thrills of the original.” Having seen the original, I’m not so sure the first film had “well-oiled thrills”–my personal opinion was that it wasn’t really a Sherlock Holmes movie at all in the fact that the murder mystery was lacking and at points, the dialogue was just annoying. It would seem that everything I didn’t like about the first film is in the sequel in spades.
Peter Rainer from the Christian Science Monitor wrote, “What this film really celebrates is crunch-and-thud video-game-style action, not especially well choreographed by director Guy Ritchie.” Stephen Witty from the Newark Star-Ledger seems to agree, writing, “Downey may think this interpretation is an insight, or funny, but it pushes what was already a rude rewriting of the classic characters into eye-rolling camp. And it throws everything off balance.”
What do you, the viewers, think? Give your opinion in the comments section below.