FILM REVIEW OF ''SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS" (2011)

According to The Guinness World Records, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s illustrious literary detective Sherlock Holmes ranks as “the most portrayed movie character” in cinematic history. Indeed, Hollywood has been shooting movies about Sherlock Holmes since the initial one-reeler, “Sherlock Holmes Baffled,” appeared in 1900, as a 30-second silent epic. Since then a number of actors have taken up residence at 221 B Baker Street, ranging from the most vintage, Basil Rathbone during the 1940s, to the most bohemian, Robert Downey, Jr., who received a Golden Globe for his performance in director Guy Ritchie’s “Sherlock Holmes” (2009). Mind you, the Holmes character has made an enviable reputation for himself on television, too. Actor Jeremy Britt took top honors with the definitive interpretation of the notable consulting detective throughout 41 episodes of the Granada Television series. Most recently, the BBC-TV revived Doyle’s gumshoe for the contemporary series “Sherlock” with Benedict Cumberbatch making his deductions amid a modern-day London. Clearly, with as many as 211 movies featuring him, Sherlock Holmes qualifies as an enduring protagonist whose eternal popularity has not diminished in over a century.

Meanwhile, “Lethal Weapon” producer Joel Silver and Ritchie have brought back Holmes for a superior sequel, “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” (**** out of ****), and “Paper Man” scenarists Michele and Kieran Mulroney have pitted him against his most diabolical nemesis, that Napoleon of Crime, Professor James Moriarty. Nothing less than the fate of Western civilization hangs in the balance during this taut 129 minute melodrama which sends Dr. Watson with our eponymous protagonist globetrotting across Europe after “Sherlock Holmes” had confined them to London. Although Lord Blackwood proved an audacious adversary in “Sherlock Holmes,” Moriarty emerges as a far more stimulating opponent in a sequel that surpasses its predecessor. This Moriarty may be the best in any Holmes adventure. Ritchie and the Mulroneys have put the Victorian Era sleuth through the paces with several exciting sequences, including a bullet-riddled shoot-out on a railway train to a challenging chess match in a scenic castle in Switzerland posed on a waterfall. Happily, “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” preserves the formula of its predecessor in every detail and character, not only replaying the ingenious Holmes-O-Vision fisticuffs scenes but also ushering in new characters, such as Holmes’ brilliant elder brother Mycroft. My only complaint about this otherwise tour-de-force mystery thriller is the short shrift given to Holmes’ love interest, Irene Adler, who doesn’t garner her share of screen time.

“Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” takes place in the year 1891 as anarchy threatens to engulf Europe and ignite war between France and Germany. The press speculates either nationalists or anarchists are behind the violence, but Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey, Jr. of “Iron Man”) believes Moriarty is to blame. Indeed, Moriarty is to blame! No sooner do his unwitting henchmen carry out a piece of his elaborate puzzle of murder and mayhem than a dishonorably discharged British sniper, Colonel Sebastian Moran (Paul Anderson of “A Lonely Place to Die”), kills them with extreme prejudice. Essentially, the sequel picks up where its predecessor more or less off as Dr. Watson is poised to wed Mary (Kelly Reilly of “Pride & Prejudice”) despite Holmes’ indefatigable efforts to derail matrimony. Holmes and Watson visit a London night club where Holmes was supposed to throw Watson’s stag party. Instead, Holmes runs into his brother Mycroft (Stephen Fry of “St. Trinian's”) and leaves a disgruntled Watson to gamble while he meets a gypsy woman, Madam Simza Heron (Noomi Rapace of the Swedish film “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”), who has been searching for her long lost brother named Rene. No sooner does Holmes read her fortune than a smelly Cossack warrior attacks them in an exhilarating scene. Later, after they escape, Holmes meets Moriarty at the university where he teaches mathematics. This is Holmes’ first encounter with Moriarty, and Moriarty tells him he plans to kill both Watson and his wife Mary on their honeymoon. Naturally, Holmes sets out to thwart him and all hell breaks loose.

Oscar-nominated actor Robert Downey, Jr., has another field day playing Sherlock Holmes. Some of his disguises make him virtually invisible. What may irritate die-hard Baker Street regulars are Downey’s undignified antics, particularly when he appears in drag to thwart the villains on the railroad out to murder Watson and his wife. Downey’s funniest scene has Holmes straddling a Shetland pony to the hilarious strains of Ennio Morricone’s music from the Clint Eastwood & Shirley MacLaine oater “Two Mules for Sister Sara.” Undoubtedly, Downey’s best dramatic scene occurs when he crosses analytical swords with Jared Harris’ Machiavellian Professor Moriarty. Mind you, Downey displays more personality than Harris. Nevertheless, Harris makes an undeniably menacing impression with a grand scheme to start a war. Jude Law reprises his role as Dr. Watson, and the chemistry between Law and Downey is still as charismatic as ever. Watson isn’t the bumbling oaf that Nigel Bruce was in the memorable Basil Rathbone outings in the 1940s. The mustached Law is as sharp with his wardrobe as he is with his revolver. For that matter, he is pretty good with military artillery. As Watson’s future wife, Kelly Reilly acquires more screen time here. Other supporting characters from the original, such as Inspector Lestrade (Eddie Marsan) and Holmes’ landlady Mrs. Hudson (Geraldine James), are back. One of producer Joel Silver’s better characteristics is his predilection for retaining the same characters as well as actors as he did in his quartet of “Lethal Weapon” blockbusters.

As usual, despite his revisionist handling of Holmes as a knuckle-smashing action hero, Ritchie makes sure that this lavishly produced thriller never wears out its welcome. Holmes and Watson find themselves up to their respective necks in danger. Happily, Ritchie and the Mulroney never fall back on the formulaic endangered woman plot with regard to Madam Simza and her part in the action. Unlike the first Ritchie “Holmes,” the sequel boasts a couple of tragic moments, but they don’t slow down the pace. Thanks to a lot of gorgeous computer-generated imagery and “Sommersby” lenser Philippe Rousselot photography, everything looks convincingly Victorian. Nothing about “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” is merely elementary, but everything is wholly entertaining.

FILM REVIEW OF ''DRACULA'S DAUGHTER"

The executives at Universal Studios didn't have long to mind the store after they produced the deplorable "Dracula's Daughter." Universal's principal debtor, Standard Capital Corporation, gave studio founder Carl Laemmle and his regime the boot after production wrapped on it. Laemmle and company should have gotten the boot far earlier for making such a lackluster sequel. Any sequel that doesn’t bring back the original protagonist—villainous or otherwise—can hardly be considered a genuine sequel. Not only does “Dracula’s Daughter” (*1/2 out of ****) refuse to reanimate Dracula, who had been impaled at the end of the original, but also Universal replaced their seminal male vampire with an entirely different protagonist—a female vampire! Unfortunately, Bela Lugosi didn't make an encore appearance; even though the Count’s supine corpse lies sprawled in his coffin at the police station. Not surprisingly, the corpse bears no resemblance to Lugosi. Indeed, Dracula plays only a peripheral part in “Dracula’s Daughter.” Conversely, Edward Van Sloan's Professor Von Helsing plays a major part. None of the other characters from the Tod Browning original participate in these new antics. Well, Renfield's body appears at the foot of the stairs in the opening sequence when the two London policemen discover him.

Presumably, since a supernatural horror movie like "Dracula" was so new to Hollywood, Universal Studios scenarists had no idea how to handle such a character. After all, “Daughter’s Daughter” came out in 1936, five years after “Dracula!” It makes you wonder why Universal waited so long to parlay a franchise out of the character. “Dracula’s Daughter” picks up where “Dracula” concluded in Carfax Abbey—a much cleaner Carfax Abbey--after Van Helsing had driven a stake into the Count as the bloodsucker lay in his coffin. Later Universal “Dracula” sequels, such as “House of Frankenstein,” would bring back Dracula even though a stake had been hammered through his body. Apparently, Universal didn't know how to handle its own merchandise. Consider if you will the inconsistency between Dracula’s corpse in “Dracula’s Daughter.” Dracula’s corporal body remains intact with the stake in him. In “House of Frankenstein” (1944), however, Dracula is a skeleton with a stake in his ribs. Clearly, the cinematic technology of 1944 enabled Universal to alter the rules that they had created for Dracula.

As Dracula's Daughter, the dark-haired Hungarian Countess, Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden of “Dodge City”), boasts the power to hypnotize the helpless. She accomplishes this feat with the use of an awesome ring. She is strong enough to put a victim into a coma with her hypnotic powers. Later, "Dracula's Daughter" waxes somewhat risqué, particularly when the eponymous heroine seduces a young girl from the streets. Lili (Nan Grey), who had planned to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge, has consented to be a model for Zaleska to paint. A strain of forbidden lesbianism permeates this scene when the Countess convinces pretty young Lili lower the straps of her slip so she can admire her neck and shoulders. This is about as scary as this movie gets. Like Dracula, the Countess possesses her own sinister assistant, Sandor (Irving Pichel of "British Agent"), who carries out her orders. The faithful Sandor found Lili. Comparatively, Sandor resembles Renfield because he performs some of the leg work for Zaleska. Ultimately, Sandor hopes that the Countess will reward him for his service. He yearn to be her lover for an eternality. Unfortunately, for Sandor, the Countess has her eyes set on somebody else who has far greater power than Sandor.

Initially, the Countess claims she is struggling to break free of ‘the curse of Dracula.’ After all, she steals Dracula’s corpse from the police station and cremated it in the wilderness. Meanwhile, the bulk of the action at the outset concerns Von Helsing turning himself over to two London policemen for the murder of Count Dracula. “Dracula’s Daughter” wins brownie points for this loyalty to the original. The police send Von Helsing to Scotland Yard where he tries to justify the ‘service to humanity’ that he performed by murdering Count Dracula. Commissioner Sir Basil Humphrey (Gilbert Emery of “Scandal Sheet”) warns Von Helsing that a jury will either convict him to be hanged or sentence to a mental asylum for the criminally insane. Von Helsing solicits the help of a former student, psychologist Jeffrey Garth (Otto Kruger of "Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet"), and defines vampirism and the methods of dealing with vampires to Garth. A skeptical Garth assures Von Helsing that the jury will hang him at the mention of such folklore. Eventually, the Countess seeks out Dr. Garth, but she runs into trouble with Garth's jealous secretary Janet Blair (Marguerite Churchill of "Riders of the Purple Saga") who behaves like a comedian from a screwball comedy. Janet and the Countess clash from the get-go, and Janet does everything in her power to see the Countess doesn't get any time to be alone with Garth.

B-western director Lambert Hillyer replaced A. Edward Sutherland as director after several delays plagued the production. Hillyer helmed 161 films during his 32 year career as a director. Aside from “Dracula’s Daughter,” Hillyer is best known for his 1943 serial “Batman,” the first appearance of the DC Comics Caped Crusader on the big screen. Hillyer maintains forward momentum and the action never bogs down in complications. Mind you, George Robinson's glorious black and white lensing creates considerable atmosphere. For the record, Robinson went on to photograph the sequel to "Dracula's Daughter," "Son of Dracula" (1943) with Lon Chaney cast as the immortal count! Nevertheless, despite the first-rate photography, little that is spooky occurs this half-baked sequel.Hillyer and "Frankenstein" scenarist Garrett Ford try to whip up some fury in the last ten minutes as the Countess abducts Dr. Garth's girlfriend Janet and flies back to Transylvania with her as her hostage. A desperate Garth follows hot on their heels and following just as hot on Garth’s heels are Von Helsing and Humphrey. Despite some atmospheric moments, the eponymous heroine generates none of the chills that Lugosi conveyed. Moreover, despite her Hungarian origins, the Countess speaks English without an accent. “Dracula’s Daughter” would have qualified as an okay vampire yarn outside the “Dracula” franchise, but it is a disappointing “Dracula” sequel.

FILM REVIEW OF ''SHERLOCK HOLMES" (2009)

The last man you would imagine as the ideal producer for “Sherlock Holmes” (**** out of ****) is none other than high-octane “Lethal Weapon” producer Joel Silver. Nevertheless, between action movie maestro Silver and audacious British director Guy Ritchie, the English counterpart to Martin Scorsese when it comes to making English mobster movies, Silver and Ritchie constitute a dynamic duo. Similarly, American actor Robert Downey, Jr., would seem least qualified to incarnate Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s immortal sleuth, but the “Iron Man” star makes it a neat fit. Well, neat might not be the appropriate word. While hygiene proves to be an annoyance to him, Robert Downey as Sherlock Holmes is nothing short of brilliant when he comes to making flawless deductions that would never occur to the less observant. Holmes notices the minutest detail, and he is forever cataloguing facts as well as experimenting with his own inventions, such as a handgun silencer. Silver and Ritchie have assembled a top-notch cast, including Jude Law, Mark Strong, and Rachel McAdams. This is the second time this year that historical London has been rendered in computer generated imagery and it looks extremely convincing.

Mind you, Holmes purists may hoist their supercilious eyebrows when they learn that Downey shuns the indispensable Basil Rathbone deerstalker cap and maintains a disheveled appearance. Incidentally, Rathbone played Holmes more times than anybody else in the Twentieth Century Fox/Universal Pictures franchise between 1939 and 1946. Later, when Universal Pictures appropriated the franchise from Twentieth Century Fox, the studio uprooted Holmes from the comforts of 1890s Victorian England and ushered him into the 20th Century so he could help the Allies defeat the Axis Powers. Meanwhile, Silver and Ritchie have lovingly recreated the Victorian setting in London during the 1890s, complete with Holmes’ rooms at 221B Baker Street. The latest Holmes strives to be more charismatic and less haughty than either Nicol Williamson in “The Seven Per-Cent Solution” (1976) or Robert Stephens in “The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes” (1970).

Freshman scenarist Michael Robert Johnson, “Invictus” scribe Anthony Peckman and Simon Kinberg of “X-Men: Last Stand” have penned a preposterous but wholly entertaining screenplay that bristles with 130 minutes worth of serpentine twists and turns. You will definitely get your money’s worth. “Sherlock Holmes” pits Holmes with his faithful colleague, the dapper Dr. John Watson (Jude Law of “Cold Mountain”), against the Voldemortian-style villain, Lord Blackwood (creepy Mark Strong of “Body of Lies”), who conjures up more evil than Holmes has ever faced. The maniacal Blackwood invokes dark magic and kills helpless women to enhance his powers. Initially, Holmes and Watson thwart him from slaying his latest female victim. Scotland Yard’s Inspector Lestrade (Eddie Marsan of “Miami Vice”) packs the predator off to the poky for the inevitable date with the gallows that Blackwood so richly deserves for his dastardly crimes. Watson officiates as the doctor who confirms Blackwood’s demise and signs the death certificate. No sooner has Blackwood been safely buried than the bugger shatters his tomb and walks the earth, creating hysteria in London, and making Watson look incompetent. Like any worthwhile villain, Blackwood has ambitious designs now that he is back among the living. Blackwood convinces everybody in London but Holmes that he possesses paranormal powers that make him indestructible. He plans to implement some sweeping changes in London as well as the world unless Holmes can thwart his evil designs.

Robert Downey, Jr., and Jude Law generate the same chemistry that made Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce in the 1940s Sherlock Holmes movies so popular. Unlike Bruce’s bumbling Watson, Law is treated as an intelligent equal to Holmes and they carry on some lively conversations. Usually, Watson isn’t given much to do in these adventures, but Law shares a greater part of the burden. In “Sherlock Holmes,” Watson dresses like a GQ Victorian gentleman and plans to marry Mary Morstan (Kelly Reilly of “Pride & Prejudice”), and Holmes does everything possible to prevent it. Incidentally, the character Mary Morstan appears in the Doyle novel “The Sign of Four” as Watson’s lady friend. Meanwhile, Holmes has his own hands full of a seductress, Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams of “The Notebook”), who likes to slip knock-out drops in his drink and leave him in embarrassing predicaments. Indeed, Adler appeared as a character in multiple Doyle stories about Holmes. She has been sent to confound Holmes by a murky individual in a carriage who sports a derringer on a mechanical contraption up his sleeve that allows him to instantly palm the weapon. Never do we learn his identity for sure, but he might be Holmes’ archenemy Moriarty. Apparently, Silver and Ritchie are saving this character for the sequel.

The bickering between Holmes and Watson seems even more amusing than the larger-than-life action set-pieces that Ritchie orchestrates with vigor and aplomb. The funniest scene has Holmes battling a towering French ruffian who literally destroys a dry dock and sinks the ship under repairs. Ritchie doesn’t direct “Sherlock Holmes” like an ordinary mystery, but spruces it up with flash-forward scenes that dissect the action—usually Holmes’ startling deductions—like something you would see in a “C.S.I.” television episode. For example, in a “Snatch” like scene where Holmes boxes with a superior opponent, our hero explains how he will topple his adversary with various blows and then Ritchie presents it in real time. People who hate the idea of Holmes as a pugilist should go back to the source. Doyle describes Holmes as a formidable bare-knuckles brawler in the novel “The Sign of Four” and Holmes even used martial arts against Moriarty in “The Adventure of the Empty House.” Consequently, Holmes’ exploits as a boxer are not a great stretch since his literary counterpart performed these feats in literature. When Holmes makes a deduction, Ritchie draws us back in time to when Holmes acquired his insight that prompted his deduction. The finale on the London Bridge, which is under construction, caps off this sprawling adventure.

Whatever the case, “Sherlock Holmes” represents the first time in twenty years that a film about Doyle’s eccentric amateur detective has illuminated screens in America since the 1988 comedy “Without a Clue” that starred Michael Caine as a fraudulent Holmes. Ultimately, your decision to see “Sherlock Holmes” will rest on your willingness to accept the makeover that Holmes received. It is really not that radical a stretch when you remember the 1985 movie “Young Sherlock Holmes” where Holmes and Watson were teenage colleagues. Most of what happens here with both characters can be traced back to the literary Holmes. Boasting brains and brawn, “Sherlock Holmes” is anything but elementary.