Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
Short description
A wave of bombings and killings spreads across Europe, and Sherlock Holmes believes one mind is behind them all: Professor James Moriarty, whose intellect matches his own but who acts without conscience. When the Austrian crown prince is found dead, Inspector Lestrade reads it as suicide, but Holmes sees murder, and the killing turns out to be one piece of a far larger design. Holmes pulls Dr. Watson away from his wedding plans and, joined by the fortune teller Sim, follows the trail from England through France and Germany toward a confrontation with Moriarty, whose scheme would change the course of history.
Guy Ritchie directed this 2011 sequel, the seventh film in his directorial career in chronological order, following the earlier Sherlock Holmes and preceding The Man from U.N.C.L.E., from a screenplay by Michele and Kieran Mulroney. Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law return as Holmes and Watson, with Jared Harris as Moriarty, Noomi Rapace as Sim, Rachel McAdams as Irene Adler and Eddie Marsan as Lestrade.
Made for about 125 million dollars, the film took roughly 544 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7.4 out of 10 from around 501,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.1 from over 11,000, while its critics' rating stands at 6 out of 10 from 224 reviews, so audiences have judged it a little more warmly than critics did.
What's left behind the scenes
- Brad Pitt, Gary Oldman, Daniel Day-Lewis, Sean Penn, and Javier Bardem were considered for the role of Professor Moriarty.
- Holmes' note to Watson reads: “If it is convenient for you, come immediately. If it is not convenient – come anyway.” This is a quote from Arthur Conan Doyle's (1859-1930) 1927 short story “The Creeping Man”.
- Filming the dance scene with Jude Law and Noomi Rapace took three days. The dance lasts only 15 seconds on screen.
- In Arthur Conan Doyle's stories, Watson is named "John H. Watson" everywhere except for the 1891 story "The Man with the Split Lip," where his wife calls him James. This nuance puzzled researchers for many years until Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957) suggested that "H" in his name stands for "Hamish," which is a Scottish variant of the name James. In the film "Hamish" is Watson's middle name.
- The Warner Brothers film company was so eager to release a sequel to this film that director Guy Ritchie left the project, and Robert Downey Jr. was forced to turn down filming in John Favreau's science fiction action film "Cowboys & Aliens" (2011).
- The character of Claude Ravach, played by Thierry Neuvic, is based on the real-life anarchist François Claudius Koenigstein, better known as Ravachol, who was executed at the age of 32 in 1892.
- Holmes' makeup in the train dismantling scene is an allusion to the appearance of the Joker as played by Heath Ledger ("The Dark Knight").
- During the bachelor party the day before the wedding, Watson is shown with two medals, indicating his participation in the Second Anglo-Afghan War of 1878-1880.
- The chess game between Holmes and Moriarty is based on a real game from 1966 between Bent Larsen (1935-2010) and Tigran Petrosian (1929-1984) in Santa Monica, USA.
- Before World War I, hand grenades in the British army had only impact detonators. They exploded if dropped or struck against the ground or a hard surface after the safety pin was removed.
- Warner Brothers was so eager to release a sequel to this film that director Guy Ritchie left the Lobo project, a DC Comics character, and Robert Downey Jr. was forced to turn down a role in John Favreau’s sci-fi action film “Cowboys & Aliens” (2011).
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