Is Guy Ritchie capable of serving the Sherlock Holmes sequel as well as the inaugural movie? Or even stuck with the more famous sequel movie formula of the more powerful action scenes of the interesting plot? Let's find out.
Year 2011 good art for sequel films. Indeed, the achievements are inscribed sequel to the blockbuster films on the stairs of the office box is really exciting. But not with the quality of the film. Sequels like Cars 2, Pirates of the Caribbean 4, The Hangover 2, Transformers 3, Spy Kids 4, Final Destination 5, Johnny English 2, Happy Feet 2, to Alvin and the Chipmunks 3, all unsuccessful Accept film expectations or surpass quality of previous film. Unfortunately, this also happens to the latest sequel to Sherlock Holmes.
Continuing the story of his first film, Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) is now hunting Professor Moriarty, a professor who has been bombing in several places in the world. Unlike previous cases, Sherlock found it difficult to find solid evidence to capture Moriarty; until one day he managed to rescue a gypsi named Simza (Noomi Rapace) from the plan of murder against him. Realizing that Simza is related to Prof.'s plan. Moriarty to disrupt the world, Sherlock Holmes also invites Simza and Dr. John Watson (Jude Law) for an adventure to stop his biggest enemy today.
Since the opening of the film, Sherlock Holmes 2 has given a bad impression to most of the audience. The plot flows too quickly and is confusing at the beginning of the movie, not even a few who feel like missing the first half of the film. Unfortunately, the next plot was not much different from the beginning of the film, so in the end make Sherlock Holmes 2 becomes unattractive because the plot is already visible thanks to the hasty narration and seemed to want to give space for more bombastic action scenes from the first film. Many moments when the audience wanted to digest and mix matching puzzle pieces, they immediately treated to a lot of action scenes that even make Sherlock Holmes does not feel like a detective movie.
Like most 'diseases' of sequel films, filmmakers and studios are always ambitious to make movie sequels much larger than their prequels, both in terms of action scenes or more complex storylines; which ultimately makes the sequel chaotic and inconsistent, though not denying some great success sequels mixing up the ambition (example: The Dark Knight). As a spectator expecting a Sherlock Holmes sequel to be more exciting than its prequel, I am deeply disappointed. The mysterious nuances that were successfully presented so well in the prequel and made the audience curious, completely lost in this movie because the storyline of Sherlock Holmes 2 seemed like a boring action / espionage movie plot set in the 1890s. Even Sherlock did not conduct 'fun' investigations and analysis as in his prequel (which must have been a mandatory element in detective films), but instead fought here and there and destroyed buildings and trains. So it can not be denied again that the director, Guy Ritchie, has insulted the classic Sherlock Holmes story out and disrespect Arthur Conan Doyle altogether.
Fortunately, the film is somewhat rescued thanks to its talented cast range. Robert Downey Jr. again bringing a good performance as Holmes and chemistry bromance with Jude Law is also still awake, though not as much as in the first film. Even Robert could successfully follow the footsteps of Johnny Depp-Jack Sparrow, in which the character Holmes increasingly identical and attached to him. New faces that enliven this film also looks okay, especially the intelligent figure of Jared Harris who fits the role of the great enemy Holmes, Moriarty. Noomi Rapace and Stephen Fry, who play Simza and Mycroft Holmes, respectively, also show considerable qualities of acting and balance, though not special.
Overall, despite all the drawbacks, Sherlock Holmes 2 is still an entertaining blockbuster movie thanks to action scenes and fresh humor that adorns throughout the movie, so it is undeniable that most mainstream viewers will surely love this movie. Apart from that, for the fans of detective stories and especially those who love their first movie, well .. I can only remind you that you have to put your expectations well, and hope that Guy Ritchie, as the director of this movie, realizes that the detective movie is not just presents a powerful action scene, but also a solid storyline, mysterious and full of twist.