Careful what you fish for

            Hey guys, I go by TheCinemaChick and I love watching movies.  I know, I know, I saw Sherlock Holmes almost a week ago, but things have been incredibly hectic for me.  My nephews and niece came for a visit, my mom’s been pretty sick and I thought I’d have a contributor this week.  Obviously, I’m once again flying solo with this.  It’s kind of disappointing because I imagine they’d be a great person to collaborate with.  Then again, my last joint effort proved to be a complete disaster…don’t worry. You’ll never hear from Kitzy again.  He cut me out of his life and no longer speaks to me.

            I have had a chance to see it again, so I know what I want to say about the movie.  Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is the sequel to the wildly popular movie from two years ago with the titular character.  The cast from the first film returns for this one, though it seems like some of them had a scheduling conflict.  Rachel McAdams shows up for maybe twelve minutes total and the film runs a good 129 minutes.  My apologies if you were expecting to see more of Irene Adler, but she’s been replaced by Noomi Rapace who plays Madam Simza.

            A new character is brought in however, one which I didn’t care for.  Mycroft Holmes is Sherlock’s brother and this man just annoyed me to no end.  He’s pompous, he’s snobby and honestly, he does not look good naked.  Don’t get me wrong, I like my men to be a little meaty but there’s something about him that just doesn’t settle well with me.  Maybe it’s because of his attitude.  Of course, it could just be me who was so put off by his personality that I couldn’t get past it.  I didn’t find any of the leading men in this movie attractive, but I don’t see films just for hot guys.

            That would make me shallow.

            Now, I did enjoy the movie overall.  I love the frantic pace the movie often creates because to me, it feels like we’re inside Holmes’s mind.  Sherlock Holmes may come off as insane, but I would consider him borderline genius.  His methods may not make sense and he’s clearly got some sort of mental issue going on, but look at the results.  I can identify with the character since I am often seen as slightly psychotic.  I’m not screwed up in the head, I’m eclectic and artsy.  Fun fact, I’m also allergic to salsa.

            Holmes claims his curse is that he sees everything, which is something else I can relate to.  I hear everything.  Often times, it freaks people out.  For example, I’m currently listening to “Sail” by AWOLnation while listening to my television and I can still hear the football game in the other room.

            Anyway, I was talking about the pace.  Yes, it’s like the first one in that sometimes it seems disjointed and a little rough.  Again, that’s how his mind works.  Look at the slow motion fight montages where he plans out his course of action.  He’s got every little move figured out so he can act faster.  It doesn’t detract from the film (in my opinion) but it gives us yet another insight to his mind.

            With that in mind, I do want to point out that the sequel did appear to be almost an exact replica of the first.  I know sequels should be cohesive and flow well, but this one was too much like the other one.  It didn’t bring anything new nor did it make me think it was brilliant.  The first one gave me that huge twist at the end and kept me guessing.  I thought I knew what was going on, but it turned out I was wrong.  This one…well, you know exactly what happened and who did it.  Its two hours of gathering evidence on a frenzied European vacation.

            Like I said, I do enjoy the film series as a whole.  There are things I appreciate about it, but there are things I hate about it.  Dr. Watson annoyed me many times by mentioning his wedding and/or honeymoon.  Also, can someone tell me if he is disabled or not?  I know he uses a cane to walk, but when he’s fighting, he seems perfectly fine.  I might be wrong, but I don’t think he really even needs the cane.  I need a cane and I’m not a badass fighter like him.

            Here’s my one huge problem with Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.  Very early in the film, they show Professor Moriarty.  You see him throughout the movie and he’s very prominent.  The first movie made a point to make him very mysterious and anonymous while this one just has him out there in the open.  I really wish they’d made him like that again.  Feature Professor Moriarty in a prominent role, but don’t tell us why he’s so important.  Give me a reason to be suspicious of him without ruining everything.  Or make him more cryptic.

            Also, the plot annoyed me.  We start off with the main plot, proving Moriarty is a criminal, then ignore that for a good portion of the movie and delve into helping Simza find her brother which leads back to the first plot.

            While all that goes on, there are two tiny scenes that use an amazing camera technique that I cannot recall.  I want to say a fish eye lens is used, but I know that’s wrong.  It’s not quite first person POV either.  It’s an extreme close up in one of a man winding a wheel with a cannon while the other occurs while a man is running.  If you’ve seen the movie and know what I’m talking about in these scenes (which last a grand total of maybe five or six seconds), please tell me.

            There are several funny moments that had me laughing, like when Sherlock refuses to ride a horse, or when he “dances” at the gypsy camp.  Watson has his moments but those tend to be few and far between.  I will admit, the whole debacle on the train was one of my favorite moments.  It pops up in the trailers and everyone’s seen Robert Downey Jr in drag but it’s more interesting in the movie.

            I don’t really have anything else to add.  I do plan on seeing The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo on Wednesday but after that I won’t really be available.  My nephews and niece will be staying here for several days so I’ll be busy playing with them.  Plus, I’m really tired because I’ve been running around taking care of some personal matters.  Maybe things will pick up in the new year, but I’m a pessimist so I don’t see that happening.

            I’m TheCinemaChick and I think I’d like to celebrate my birthday in Austin this year.