SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS (C-)

Bottom Line: Like its predecessor, SHERLOCK HOLMES 2 will probably please the many movie-going masses that flock to see it – but this Chinese dinner movie (meaning you’re hungry for a more substantial movie thirty minutes later) coasts along solely on the rightfully earned, charismatic charm of Robert Downey Jr. I’ll throw a few bonus points its way for the solid last 12-minutes and a deliciously deviant villain – but this movie, as a whole, is elementary – as in an elementary school student could have written a stronger, more compelling story.

Rated: PG-13
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Noomi Rapace and Jared Harris
Directed by: Guy Ritchie
Running time: 129 minutes
Story: Sherlock Holmes has always been the smartest man in the room... until now. There is a new criminal mastermind at large—Professor Moriarty—and not only is he Holmes' intellectual equal, but his capacity for evil, coupled with a complete lack of conscience, may actually give him an advantage over the renowned detective. When the Crown Prince of Austria is found dead, the evidence, as construed by Inspector Lestrade, points to suicide. But Sherlock Holmes deduces that the prince has been the victim of murder—a murder that is only one piece of a larger and much more portentous puzzle, designed by Professor Moriarty. The cunning Moriarty is always one step ahead of Holmes as he spins a web of death and destruction—all part of a greater plan that, if he succeeds, will change the course of history. (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Trailer: www.sherlockholmes2.warnerbros.com