Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

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Sherlock Holmes:
A Game of Shadows
215px
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Guy Ritchie
Produced by Joel Silver
Lionel Wigram
Susan Downey
Dan Lin
Written by Michele Mulroney
Kieran Mulroney
Based on Characters
by Arthur Conan Doyle
Starring Robert Downey, Jr.
Jude Law
Noomi Rapace
Jared Harris
Rachel McAdams
Eddie Marsan
Music by Hans Zimmer
Lorne Balfe
Cinematography <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Edited by James Herbert
Production
company
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Release dates
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  • 16 December 2011 (2011-12-16)
Running time
 129 minutes[1]
Country United Kingdom
United States
Language English
Budget $125 million[2]
Box office $545.4 million[3]

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is a 2011 British-American action mystery film directed by Guy Ritchie and produced by Joel Silver, Lionel Wigram, Susan Downey and Dan Lin. It is the sequel to the 2009 film Sherlock Holmes, and likewise features the Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The screenplay was written by Michele Mulroney and Kieran Mulroney. Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law reprise their roles as Holmes and Watson and were joined by Noomi Rapace as Simza, Stephen Fry as Mycroft Holmes and Jared Harris as Professor Moriarty.

In the film, eccentric detective Holmes and his companion Watson travel across Europe with a gypsy adventuress to foil an intricate plot by their cunning nemesis, Professor Moriarty. The film follows an original premise incorporating elements of Conan Doyle's short stories "The Final Problem" and "The Empty House".[4]

On its release, the film received mixed to positive reviews from critics,[5] and was commercially successful with a worldwide gross of over $545 million.[3]

Plot

In 1850, Irene Adler delivers a package to Herr Dr. Hoffmanstahl; payment for a letter he was to deliver. Hoffmanstahl opens the package, triggering a hidden bomb that is prevented from detonating by the intervention of Sherlock Holmes. Holmes takes the letter while Adler and Hoffmanstahl escape. Holmes finds Hoffmanstahl assassinated moments later. Adler meets with Professor Moriarty to explain the events, but Moriarty poisons and kills her — deeming her position compromised by her love for Holmes.

Later, Dr. Watson arrives at 221B Baker Street, where Holmes discloses that he is investigating a series of seemingly unrelated murders, terrorist attacks and business acquisitions around the globe that he has connected to Moriarty. After meeting up with his brother Mycroft at Watson's bachelor party, Holmes meets with Gypsy fortune-teller Simza, the intended recipient of the letter he took from Adler, sent by her brother Rene. Holmes defeats an assassin sent to kill Simza, but she flees before Holmes can interrogate her. After the wedding of Watson and Mary Morstan, Holmes meets Moriarty for the first time. Expressing his respect for Holmes' tenacity, Moriarty informs Holmes that he murdered Adler and will kill Watson and Mary if Holmes' interference continues. Holmes vengefully vows to defeat him.

Moriarty's men attack Watson and Mary on a train to their honeymoon. Holmes, having followed the pair to protect them, throws Mary from the train into a river below where she is rescued by Mycroft. After defeating Moriarty's men, Holmes and Watson travel to Paris to locate Simza. When she is found, Holmes tells Simza that she has been targeted because Rene is working for Moriarty, and may have told her about his plans. Simza takes the pair to the headquarters of an anarchist group to which she and Rene had formerly belonged. They learn that the anarchists have been forced to plant bombs for Moriarty.

The trio follows Holmes' deduction that the bomb is in the Paris Opera. However, Holmes realizes too late that he has been tricked and that the bomb is in a nearby hotel; the bomb kills a number of assembled businessmen. Holmes discovers that the bomb was a cover for the assassination of Alfred Meinhard, one of the attendees, by Moriarty's henchman, Sebastian Moran. Meinhard's death grants Moriarty ownership of Meinhard's arms factory in Germany. Holmes, Watson and Simza travel there, following clues in Rene's letters.

At the factory, Moriarty captures, interrogates and tortures Holmes while Watson battles Moran. Holmes spells out Moriarty's plot, revealing that the Professor secretly acquired shares in multiple war profiteering companies using varies pseudonyms to conceal his identity, and intends to instigate a world war to make himself a fortune. Meanwhile, Watson uses the cannon he had been hiding behind to destroy the watchtower in which Moran is concealed. The structure collapses into the warehouse where Moriarty is holding Holmes captive. Watson, Simza, and an injured Holmes reunite and escape aboard a moving train. Holmes deduces that Moriarty's final target will be a peace summit in Switzerland, creating an international incident.

At the summit, Holmes reveals that Rene is the assassin and that he is disguised as one of the ambassadors, having been given radical reconstructive surgery by Hoffmanstahl. Holmes and Moriarty, who is also in attendance, retreat upon a balcony to discuss their competing plans over a game of chess. Watson and Simza find Rene and stop his assassination attempt, but Rene is discreetly killed by Moran. Despite his war being averted, Moriarty remains confident in his victory, warning Holmes that the nations of Europe will inevitably go to war with one another regardless of Moriarty's manipulations.

Holmes then reveals that, while being tortured by Moriarty, he replaced the doctor's personal diary that contained all his plans and financing with a duplicate. The original was sent to Mary in London, who decrypted the code using a book that Holmes had noticed in Moriarty's office during their first meeting, before passing the information to Inspector Lestrade, who seizes Moriarty's assets and donates his fortune to anti-war charities. Holmes and Moriarty anticipate an impending physical confrontation, and both realise that Moriarty would win due to Holmes' injured shoulder. Holmes instead grapples Moriarty and forces them both over the balcony and into the Reichenbach Falls below. The pair are presumed dead.

Following Holmes' funeral, Watson and Mary prepare to have their belated honeymoon when Watson receives a package containing a breathing device of Mycroft's that Holmes had noticed before the summit. Contemplating that Holmes may still be alive, Watson leaves his office to find the delivery man. Holmes, having concealed himself in Watson's office, reads Watson's memoirs on the typewriter and adds a question mark after the words "The End".

Cast

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Production

After the success of the 2009 film Sherlock Holmes, a sequel was fast-tracked by Warner Bros. with director Guy Ritchie dropping out of an adaptation of Lobo and Robert Downey, Jr. leaving Cowboys & Aliens.[15] It was unclear if Rachel McAdams would appear in the film. McAdams said, "If I do, it won't be a very big thing. It's not a lead part".[16] Warner Bros. later confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that McAdams would play a part in the sequel.[11]

The film, then under the running title of Sherlock Holmes 2, was reported to be influenced by Conan Doyle's "The Final Problem".[4] While the film took place a year after the events of the first film,[4] Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows was intended to be a stand-alone film that did not require knowledge of the previous movie.[4]

In October 2010, Downey, Jr. and Jude Law were seen rehearsing a fight scene as shooting took place in Richmond Park, in southwest London.[17] In October 2010, the steamship PS Waverley was chartered on the English Channel for filming, and a large green screen was erected at Didcot Railway Centre with a large action scene filmed there in mid-November.[7] In late November, a scene was filmed at Victoria Bridge, which is part of the Severn Valley Railway. In January 2011, scenes were also filmed at Hampton Court Palace and areas in Oxford University, Oxford, England. Filming also took place in September 2011 in Greenwich at the Royal Naval College.[18]

In early February 2011, principal photography moved for two days to Strasbourg, France. Shooting took place on, around, and inside Strasbourg Cathedral. The scene was said to be the opening scene of the film, as it covered an assassination/bombing in a German-speaking town.[19]

The production also filmed at several locations in Kent including Fort Amherst, Knole in Sevenoaks, and The Historic Dockyard Chatham. The White Cliffs of Dover can also be seen in the background of the scene where Watson and Sherlock travel by boat to France.[20]

The slow-motion work in the film was done by Gavin Free, an English filmmaker who works for Rooster Teeth Productions and is known for his web series, The Slow Mo Guys.

Music

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Main article: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (soundtrack)

The score was composed by Hans Zimmer. Zimmer and director Guy Ritchie traveled to Slovakia, Italy, and France to research the authentic Roma music. Zimmer and his core musicians all with National Democratic Institute members, visited seven Roma villages to learn about the Roma people and "listen to as many musicians as we could." Deeply impressed, Zimmer arranged for 13 of the Roma musicians with their violins and accordions to join him in Vienna at a studio for a recording session. Zimmer wove this Roma music into the score for Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Besides discovering the wonderful cultural music, Zimmer also said he had never seen such poverty in Central Europe. A portion of proceeds from the soundtrack will help the Roma pay for necessities like water, heating and bus fare to get their children to school.[21] The soundtrack also contains works of Johann Strauss II, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ennio Morricone and Franz Schubert.

Distribution

The film was released on 16 December 2011 in Canada, Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Mexico; on 25 December 2011 in most other countries; and on 5 January 2012 in Australia, Poland and Spain.[6]

Home media

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 12 June 2012 for Region 1[22][23] and 14 May 2012 for Region 2[24][25] and Region 4.[26]

Reception

Jude Law in January 2012 at the film's French premiere in Paris.

Box office

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows earned $186.8 million in North America as well as $357 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $543.4 million.[3] It is the 12th highest-grossing film of 2011 worldwide.[27]

In North America, it topped the box office on its opening day with $14.6 million,[28][29] down from the opening-day gross of the previous film ($24.6 million).[30] During the weekend, it grossed $39.6 million, leading the box office but earning much less than the opening weekend of its predecessor ($62.3 million).[31] By the end of its theatrical run, it became the 9th highest-grossing film of 2011 in the US.[32]

Outside North America, the film earned $14.6 million on its opening weekend, finishing in third place.[33] It topped the overseas box office during three consecutive weekends in January 2012.[34][35][36] It eventually surpassed its predecessor's foreign total ($315.0 million). In the UK, Ireland and Malta, its highest-grossing market after North America, the film achieved a first-place opening of £3.83 million[37] ($5.95 million),[38] over a three-day period, compared to the £3.08 million earned in two days by the original film.[39] It earned $42.2 million in total. Following in largest totals were Russia and the CIS ($28.4 million) and Italy ($24.5 million).[40]

Critical response

The film received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 59% of 204 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 6 out of 10. The consensus is "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".[5] Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 48 based on 38 reviews.[41]

Roger Ebert, who gave the first film three stars, was even more positive in his review for A Game of Shadows, awarding it three-and-a-half stars and calling it "high-caliber entertainment" that "add[s] a degree of refinement and invention" to the formula, and that the "writers…wisely devote some of their best scenes to one-on-ones between Holmes and Moriarty."[42] James Berardinelli gave the film three stars out of four, writing: "A Game of Shadows is a stronger, better realized movie that builds upon the strengths of the original and jettisons some of the weaknesses."[43] Conversely, Keith Phipps of The A.V. Club felt that the film "aims lower than its predecessor's modest ambition, and still misses the mark."[44]

Accolades

List of awards and nominations
Year Award Category Recipient(s) and nominee(s) Result Ref(s)
2012 Saturn Awards Best Action/Adventure Film Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Nominated [45]
Best Costume Jenny Beavan Nominated
Teen Choice Awards Choice Movie: Action Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Nominated [46]
Choice Movie Actor: Action Robert Downey, Jr. Nominated
Choice Movie Actress: Action Noomi Rapace Nominated

Possible sequel

Warner Bros. Pictures announced in October 2011 that the first draft for Sherlock Holmes 3 is being produced with screenwriter Drew Pearce writing the script;[47] he was replaced by Justin Haythe.[48] Jude Law commented on the project in late 2013, "We had a meeting earlier this year, the three of us, and I think it's being written now. Warner Bros. have still got to agree to pay for it... I think they want to!"[49] He also said of the delay in getting into production, "I think Warner Bros. wants it, and there's a lot of want from us as a team. We want it to be better than the other two. We want to make sure it's smarter and cleverer, but in the same realm. It's a slow process. We're all busy. So getting us together to try to nail that has taken a little bit longer than we had hoped... I hate celebrating anything I've done, but I'm so proud of those films. I think it was Joel Silver who said, 'Take it out of that dusty room and put it on the street'."[50]

In October 2014, Susan Downey stated that a third film was in development: "There's an idea, there's an outline, there is not a script yet. Trust me, the studio would love there to be a script. But our feeling is, we gotta get it right." When asked whether the film would realistically be out within the "next few years", she expressed confidence that it would be, saying, "Yeah. At a certain point it's going to be too long— we've waited too long. We're working as fast and responsibly as we can to get a great script."[51]

In May 2015, when asked of the progress of the third film in an interview, Jude Law stated: "There is apparently still a will [to do it], there is a script being written, but I'm not sure."[52]

On August 5, 2015, while promoting Ritchie's film The Man from U.N.C.L.E., producer Lionel Wigram said that a script for a third film is still being written. Wigram also claimed that both Downey, Jr. and Law would reprise their roles from the first two films.[53]

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Box Office Mojo
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ http://kentfilmoffice.co.uk/2011/12/sherlock-holmes-game-of-shadows-2011/ Kent Film Office Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows Film Focus
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ 2011 "Worldwide Grosses", Box Office Mojo.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ 2011 DOMESTIC GROSSES, Box Office Mojo.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  42. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  43. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  44. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  45. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  46. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  47. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  48. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  49. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  50. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  51. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  52. ↑ http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/news/a649664/sherlock-holmes-3-may-or-may-not-be-happening-says-jude-law.html?rss#~peziWE3HvT5Eb9
  53. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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