A Few Words About A few words about...™ Sherlock Holmes - A Game of Shadows -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

Sherlock Homes - A Game of Shadows is a beautifully produced disc.

Shot on film in S35 format, and taken through a 2k DI on its way back to final theatrical formats, it just looks right.

Watching the film, my mind kept visiting The Big Sleep, as I found a major similarity in the story lines. Absolute confusion.

Of course, half way through SH - GoS, things finally begin to spin into shape, while TBS just meandered in its own way, rather like a stream finding its own banks through a wilderness.

In the end, I got it, and while I found it entertaining, I did not feel it was in league with the first entry into the series.

Audio, and please don't take this as gospel, as I need to go back and check against other discs, seemed a bit boomy, with dialogue not as crisp and clean as I might have preferred, but there were no real problems.

Overall, Warner's new release is a nice addition to the Holmes canon, especially since it stands to great extent in opposition to the far more quiet and fully entertaining BBC series.

A good film, not a great one, on a quality Blu-ray disc.

Recommended.

RAH

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Thanks Robert. Cameron's full review can be found here.

 

[Osato]

Awesome. Can't wait to pick this one up! I enjoyed the first one and this one as well.
Thanks Robert!

 

[Alan Tully]

I saw this last night...on DVD (I loan them free from my local library, & if I like them I buy the Blu). It's all action, I enjoyed it without really wanting to see it again. I am beyond sick of this desaturated look (but I suppose if that's what the director wants) this is just like the first one, it looks like about 80% of the colour has been wound out. I mean the Blu is never going to look that great, as the film doesn't.

 

[Mark-P]

Wow, I never knew anyone who owned a local library before, unless of course you meant "borrow."

(I loan them free from my local library, & if I like them I buy the Blu).

 

[Alan Tully]

Wow, I never knew anyone who owned a local library before, unless of course you meant "borrow."

That's the word I was looking for! As I'm over 60 (just) I get them for free. I saw Sherlock Holmes last night & am now just about to look at Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. Not seeing many (any) new movies that I'd bother to buy the Blu of.

 

[Osato]

Best Buy has Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows and Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol for $12.99 each on blu ray this week.

 

[Oblivion138]

As a huge Sherlock Holmes fan (my Holmes DVD/BD collection encompasses some 80 or so discs), I enjoyed Ritchie's first stab at the character, though not nearly as much as the BBC's Sherlock series. Still, it was a serviceable pastiche. The sequel, however, did nothing for me. It lacked any real sense of mystery, which makes it poor going as a Sherlock Holmes vehicle. I will say this, though...Jude Law (who worked briefly with the small screen's greatest Holmes, Jeremy Brett, in an episode of The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes) is still one of the best Watsons ever to grace the screen. And Jared Harris is a splendid Moriarty, even if the script doesn't give him anything particularly great to do. One thing the BBC's Sherlock lacked, in my opinion, was a great Moriarty...so it was at least nice to see one in this film.
The disc, on the other hand, seems flawless to me. I can find no technical fault whatsoever. I certainly agree with RAH's assessment, though I may be a bit less forgiving of the film itself. I'd say this is an excellent presentation of a mediocre film.

 

[Chuck Anstey]

I did like Jared Harris as Moriarty but the character of Moriarty felt wrong. His fallback plan to get back at Sherlock Holmes was to attempt to kill Watson and his fiance/wife twice? That is wrong and turns him into the wrong kind of evil. Collateral damage is one thing but this was revenge killing and not at the main target. Moriarty is evil but there has to be some respect for his evil genius. Lord Blackwood was closer to the Moriarty character persona.

 

[Oblivion138]

Agreed on the plot aspects. They are wrong, pretty much across the board. I was speaking specifically of Harris's characterization, which I think is wonderful. The highlight of the film, in my opinion. Which is ironic, as I think that the BBC series' only real disappointment is Andrew Scott's Moriarty characterization. While the character is fantastically written on Sherlock, Scott generally comes off as a prancing git, conveying little to no sense of real menace. It's like a "Dark Knight Joker" take on Moriarty, and it just doesn't work. In all other respects, though, the BBC series easily bests the Ritchie films...especially this sequel. I do enjoy the first Downey/Law pairing, but this one just feels like style in search of a script, and never quite finding it.

 

[Matt Hough]

Well, to each his own, I guess. I found Andrew Scott's Moriarty quite menacing: psychotics have a way of burrowing into a person's psyche and making one quite uncomfortable. And the British Academy of Film and Television Arts seemed to think highly of his work, too, since he was the only member of the Sherlock team to go home with a prize this year.

My copy of A Game of Shadows hasn't come yet, so I can't comment about Harris' performance, but I'm looking forward to the movie despite the generally downbeat notices it received.

 

[Oblivion138]

If he'd come across as genuinely disturbed, rather than a campy cabaret villain, I would've loved Scott's Moriarty. But he rarely comes across as crazy, and mostly just comes across annoying. But as you say, to each his own. The pairing of Cumberbatch and Freeman is fantastic, but Scott just hit all the wrong notes for me. If anything, Freeman deserved an award for Series Two. But those kinds of awards are so arbitrary, anyway. Looking forward to Series Three.

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Especially since Moriarty won't be in it.

 

[AdrianTurner]

I like both of Ritchie's films - and was struck by how much the second film owes to Billy Wilder's The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, still my favourite Holmes picture and perhaps my favourite picture of all time. Especially at the end, with Watson writing up his story and sort of living a vicarious life, together with the obsessive research enthusiasms of Holmes (tobacco ash in the Wilder, camouflage in the Ritchie) and the romantic disappointments all recall the Wilder picture. Of course the tone, pace and intent are quite different - but that Wilder picture casts a long shadow over the Ritchie pictures and the BBC as well.

 

[Matt Hough]

I just watched this one this afternoon. I liked it about as much as the first though knowing the original story with Moriarty "The Final Problem," I spied how Holmes was going to survive as soon as the little hint was dropped. Still, there was a fair share of invention in the story (funny how this film and the BBC series had Irene Adler as a pawn of Moriarty's), and Downey and Law continued to have great chemistry together. Jared Harris made an effective villain underplaying the evil effectively though I also believe the first film had the more charismatic antagonist.

I would assume we'll get another of these in a couple of years. The box-office might not have matched the first film's, but it still did very well.

 

[JParker]

I like both of Ritchie's films - and was struck by how much the second film owes to Billy Wilder's The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, still my favourite Holmes picture and perhaps my favourite picture of all time. Especially at the end, with Watson writing up his story and sort of living a vicarious life, together with the obsessive research enthusiasms of Holmes (tobacco ash in the Wilder, camouflage in the Ritchie) and the romantic disappointments all recall the Wilder picture. Of course the tone, pace and intent are quite different - but that Wilder picture casts a long shadow over the Ritchie pictures and the BBC as well.

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes cries out for a Blu-ray release; perhaps not my favorite film (and you literally wrote the book on Lawrence of Arabia), it's interesting even Amazon.com (U.S.) sells via a third party seller, I hope it doesn't go out of print.
Does any reader here have news?
I actually have only seen it on TV many years ago but it did make quite an impression, thanks for reminding us, Mr. Turner.