A new game is afoot in director Guy Ritchie's return to the world of Sherlock Holmes, but Robert Downey Jr.'s first outing as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famed sleuth puts Shadows in the shade. The sequel lacks some of the fun of the first, despite the fact that — or maybe because — it adds more explosive action. At least they've got the villain right — Jared Harris plays Holmes's nemesis Professor Moriarty with evil panache. Likewise, the addition of Holmes fan Stephen Fry as Sherlock's brother Mycroft is inspired, though Noomi Rapace (from the Swedish Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) in the role of a gypsy woman won't make you forget Rachel McAdams. Hans Zimmer's music also returns, more bombastic than before, although fans of Ennio Morricone will be in for a surprise. The late-breaking plot involving chess and pre-World War I spy intrigue is elementary, and so is the film's appeal.
