Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows 4K 2011 Ultra HD 2160p

When the Crown Prince of Austria was found dead, all the evidence, according to Inspector Lestrade (Eddie Marsan), pointed to suicide. But Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) concludes that the heir to the throne has been killed, and this murder is just a small piece of the puzzle created by Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris), in fact, much more grandiose and sinister. The investigation turns into an even greater danger and leads Holmes, Watson (Jude Law) and their unwitting ally Sim (Noomi Rapace) the gypsy throughout Europe, from England to France, then to Germany and finally to Switzerland. But the cunning Moriarty is always one step ahead, weaving a web of death and destruction, which are part of his grand plan, the success of which will change the course of history.

Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows 4K Review
When a wave of anarchist terrorist attacks hits Europe, Holmes (Downey Jr.) intercepts a letter that will lead him to the mysterious gypsy (Noomi Rapace) and the genius Professor Moriarty (Harris). At this time, Watson (Lowe) is trying to marry ...

Storming another case, Guy Ritchie, Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law follow an established formula and do not resort to excuses. A strong sequel is far from unrestrained savoring itself, does not require the viewer to completely immerse himself in the legend of the great detective, and even more so - God forbid! - no darker than the first film. In Holmes's case, character development is almost out of the question. The heroes act - in London and Paris, in Germany and at the famous waterfall in the Swiss Alps - all with the same recklessness of a steampunk Bond, who took off her hat to Hitchcock and the Wachowski brothers. Outlandish views alternate with gruesome murders: with exhibitionist bragging rights, the film shows us an increasingly powerful weapon. Only one thing has changed: the villain.

Moriarty does not paint a belligerent smile on his face, but for Holmes he is clearly the Joker, a con man so stubborn that he is indistinguishable from the hero. Not trying to hide in the shadows, he takes center stage on the stage. Colliding every now and then in battles, Holmes and his nemesis play a literal and metaphorical game of chess. There is no need to invite a star for ten million and distract the viewer with a catchy face: Jared Harris, purring with pleasure in the implementation of his incomprehensible plans (the actor's voice is a luxurious echo of his late father's rude Irish reprimand), plays the devilishly charming Moriarty, as much as his balanced, the opponent is at odds with the nerves.

The clowning Sherlock Downey Jr. will continue to annoy the purists, but it's worth appreciating the gambit he's playing: he simultaneously laughs at the grave seriousness of Arthur Conan Doyle and glorifies it. This Sherlock remains a postmodern creation: a superman eccentric (a key ability - instant intellectual attacks), a wit, a clown, an eccentric and an old-fashioned romantic hero who is now valued more than special effects. Where Jack Sparrow drowned in a sea of ​​inedible spaghetti, Downey Jr.'s freethinking detective survives to solve a hell of a case. Even if you don't follow the twists and turns of the plot, it doesn't matter. We identify ourselves with Watson: to realize what is really going on, we do not need to convince, we will leave it to Holmes.

Guy Ritchie's ingenious trick - swimming through Holmes' brainwaves, whether it be fierce contractions (of which there are delightfully many, even too much) or examples of deductive method - in "Play of Shadows" became the main driving force of the show. A long and extremely tense scene in which Watson tries to go on a honeymoon trip, and his best man eventually throws the doctor's wife off the train, turns into a matryoshka of the most skillful Holmes schemes within the schemes. Slow deductive passages that unfold back and forth along the time axis are an improvisation on the theme of the art of cinema, telling about the ability to distort time and reshuffle the plot during the editing process. Even more than the first film, the sequel plays on a twisted controversy: it's a big, goofy blockbuster about astounding intelligence - a paradox reinforced by nerdy Stephen Fry as Mycroft Holmes as Stephen Fry with aplomb.

Only Noomi Rapace does not catch on, but this is not her (poor girl!) Fault: the impudent gypsy Sim is not too temperamental and not particularly cute, and she was not even offered a love line. She is always there and in the wings. Rachel McAdams, who returns in a short episode as the treacherous Irene Adler, has accomplished much more in less screen time in the previous film. Of course, Downey's comedian partner, Watson, remains the real lover of the half-crazy Holmes. For Jude Law, this role suits no one else: the actor brings a sense of vulnerability to the image of a prudent person fighting an irresistible temptation to adventure. The male romance is gaining momentum; homoerotic is now not so much a subtext as a worn-out routine, and Sherlock even disguises himself as a woman. Without sliding into a parody for a minute, "Play of Shadows ..." brings down waterfalls of self-irony on the viewer.
Guy Ritchie is convinced that blockbuster directors often forget about it: pleasure is not a dirty word.

Info Blu-ray
Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265
Resolution: Upscaled 4K (2160p)
HDR: HDR10
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1

Audio
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital (640 kb/s)

Subtitles
English SDH, Arabic, Bulgarian, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish.