Robert Downey Jr.'s manic manifestation of Holmes continues in 'Game of Shadows'

The anarchists are coming, the anarchists are coming! All across 1890s Europe, bombings and assassinations are stirring up a new industrial-strength war between Germany and France for the fun and profit of evil international munitions makers. Looks like a job for -- Sleuth-Man.

Anarchy characterizes the medium as much as the message in "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," the frenetic sequel to director Guy Ritchie's frenetic 2009 entry, with Robert Downey Jr. reprising his eccentric incarnation of the world's greatest forensic freelancer on steroids.

All this Super Sherlock needs for formal membership in the Justice League is a cape and a cave. He's got the sidekick, the secret identities and the supernatural skills, including state-of-the-martial-arts moves channeled straight from Bruce Lee's homunculus.

Indeed, "Game of Shadows" opens like a Hong Kong chop flick, with a breathless sequence heralding much globe-trotting action to come. Behind the mayhem is Holmes' arch-adversary Moriarty (Jared Harris), posing these days as a respectable academic author. It's surely the first time a criminal mastermind is on a book-signing tour.
To thwart Moriarty, and the end of Western Euro civilization, Holmes needs to renew his partnership with faithful foil Dr. Watson (Jude Law), who is preparing -- as always -- to marry fiancee Mary (Kelly Reilly). Poor Watson has long been fed up with Holmes' chaotic methods, lack of personal hygiene and sabotage of the marriage. His best-laid honeymoon plans will again go awry, due to Moriarty, Holmes' old heartthrob-siren Irene (Rachel McAdams), and new Gypsy-siren (Noomi Rapace, of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"), whom Sherlock rescues from an acrobatic Russian assassin. She'll return the favor by cooking the ultimate Gypsy delicacy -- hedgehog goulash -- for him.

Got all that? Never mind. All you have to get is Mr. Downey's idiosyncratic portrayal of Sherlock: a kind of cross between James Bond and the Joker, in character, and between Al Pacino and Dustin Hoffman, in appearance. The diametric opposite of meticulous Basil Rathbone. On his strict diet of coffee, tobacco and cocaine (laced with gulps of formaldehyde, his drink of choice), Mr. Downey's Sherlock is mad as a hatter, a "manic verging on psychotic" guy who doesn't sleep, eat or shave but -- like Pigpen in "Peanuts" -- seems to inhabit a mini-tornado of swirling dirt wherever he goes. With his cheesy fake noses and beards, he's a bungler -- rather than master -- of disguise. A reprobate, pure and simple.

His and Watson's role-reversals continue -- Holmes dresses (and cross-dresses) foolishly, Watson comes to Holmes' rescue, rather than vice versa -- but the gay under- or overtones are minimized, while the action elements are maximized: slapstick brawling in American Western barroom fashion, absurd but well-choreographed, cartoon violence. The preposterously convoluted script by husband-wife team Kieran and Michele Mulroney is built with set pieces -- rather than coherence -- in mind, with one-liners and McGuffins galore.

Mr. Ritchie's anachronistic pyrotechnics again feature his innovative slow-mo F/X, illustrating the inner workings of Holmes' mind and gadgetry in the fight scenes and blitz chess matches with Moriarty. Nifty but confusing, they remind me of the DirecTV commercial with the guy who stops the action explosions while going from room to room for a beer, then clicks it back on again.

Moriarty as proto-Krupp, singing Schubert lieder? It's pretty "out there," but Mr. Harris' suave, reptilian rendering is good, as are the key scenes in which the two brilliant foes confront and grudgingly admire each other.
Best touch of the film was to incorporate and cast huge, funny Stephen Fry in comic relief as Holmes' supercilious brother Mycroft. He has the Guinness Book of Records' most asymmetrical nose and a penchant for nudity.
Hans Zimmer's terrific original music combines grand orchestral with klezmerish modes, while Philippe Rousselot's cinematography is much better this time around than in the previous film, with the benefit of real locations instead of tacky mattes.

All in all, this new Holmes offering --with its ludicrous but impressive battles-- is a fun mix of adventure and humor (garnering much applause at the preview screening). The one thing you can be sure of, whenever somebody dies or gets killed, is that he or she hasn't really died or been killed. Therefore: Watch for the continuing adventures of Butch Watson and the Sherlock Kid -- coming inevitably to a theater near you.