Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)

Director Guy Ritchie’s 2009 “Sherlock Holmes,” with Yank actor Robert Downey Jr. playing the Brit detective, was an entertaining farce that tripped too far into the superhero arena. The Ritchie-directed sequel “Game of Shadows” gallops full force into silly Hollywood cliches with “top this” action pieces minced into slow-mo chunks of film that may irritate even the most Ritalin-deprived viewer. A third-act chase through a forest sticks out as the sorest thumb, smashed by Ritchie’s antic edits. Ditch the deerstalker hat and get this Sherlock a cape as Holmes’ pipe, careful contemplations, and witty word play are for the most part dumped in lieu of a 007-worthy plot involving arch-nemesis Moriarty (a ho-hum Jared Harris) as the instigator of a 1890s European war that plays out too broadly and with inane clues (to the winery!) that reek weak. Worse, great actress Noomi Rapace (the Swedish “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and “Prometheus”) is stuck glaring in silence as Downey along with Jude Law as Watson ham up literature’s oldest bro-mance, making this outing shrivel under the shadow of greater Holmes adaptations, including the stellar BBC modern-day-set mind-fuck “Sherlock.” C

The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother (1975)

Following “The Producers“ (Broadway), “Blazing Saddles” (western) and “Young Frankenstein” (classic horror) -- all made by Mel Brooks, Gene Wilder starred, wrote and directed the spoof “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother” on his own. Some veterans of the prior films, mainly Marty Feldman, Dom DeLuise and Madeline Kahn, appear in supporting roles in this story about a case too lowly for the pipe smoking great detective. Sherlock instead kicks it to his kid brother, Sigerson Holmes (Wilder), a musical-loving wannabe who ought to be in the same therapy class as Leo Bloom. What the case is all about is irrelevant. The gags count here, none better than a Moriarty (Leo McKern) who must commit an evil act every 24 minutes, cannot add and has a height issue. McKern steals the film, even from the likes of the great cast. There are solid laughs all around, but as a whole this falls short of Brooks gold. The ending is choppy, as if Wilder couldn’t decide how to roll credits. B

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

I had no literary prejudices going into the new big-screen “Sherlock Holmes,” starring Robert Downey Jr. as the fictional sleuth. I’ve (sadly) yet to read a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story. That said, gritty director Guy Ritchie serves us a “new” Holmes who is an underground boxer prone to dark rooms, not bathing and sleeping on the floor. He is gruff and dirty, as is the 1890s London around him. He’s like no Holmes I’ve seen before, and Downey is wonderful in the lead. The standard plot, which gallops but never breaks into a full run, has the duo of Holmes and Watson (Jude Law, wonderful) unmasking a dark arts master (Mark Strong) bent on world domination in line with a Batman villain. Ritchie provides brilliant scenes where Downey as Holmes mentally breaks down an action – say, a fistfight – before seeing it through. But as the climatic fight arrives, the trick is dropped. And it’s a bit disappointing. This is a fairly solid movie that is more of a franchise set-up then full-fledged film. Moriarity appears in shadow, and it got my head spinning about who will play him. I’d love to see Russell Crowe take the part. That would be a helluva match up. B