I rather reluctantly went to the cinema to see Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, the second film starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law as Holmes and Watson. I say reluctantly because I was not impressed with the first movie. But my sister wanted to see it so I went along with her. I am somewhat conflicted about the film. As a Victorian action-adventure movie it ticks all the right boxes and on that level it was a fun, entertaining film that I would have been happy to see. My problem is that they are calling it a Sherlock Holmes film, but it bears no relation to what I know of Sherlock Holmes. It is disappointing because it twists something that I love and at the same time that kind of ruins something which would otherwise have been enjoyable. I don’t think all Holmes adaptations have to be to-the-letter: see Sherlock for an excellent version of Holmes which changes a lot but manages to remain true to the characters and the spirit of the books. But this one is just so far from the originals that I think they’d have made much better films if they’d just used different characters, because otherwise the film is actually good. But when I was able to get over my Holmes nerd rage, I did enjoy it, much more so that the first one (or at least what I can remember of it) and I was glad it saw it.