Sherlock Holmes 2 A Game of Shadows

Cafe Society
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The first movie’s been playing on various cable channels lately (no doubt timed to coincide with the release of the sequel) and it occurred to me that the big plot was to poison Parliament (no mention of which house of Parliament, mind you - I’d expect Lord Blackwood to present himself before the House of Lords, a body of minuscule power compared to the House of Commons - but no matter) while Blackwood’s followers, having unwittingly drunk the antidote, would be spared.

What, then, was the point of his “join me or perish” speech, given to the general assembly? Even if he got numerous defectors to his side, there’s no time (nor any indication of plans) to give out more doses of antidote. All that would happen it that Blackwood and his followers would survive while all other members die, but how this translates to Blackwood and company gaining control of the government eludes me. When they try passing on orders to the military (to go “take back” America), will the military just casually go along? Does mere occupancy of the Parliament buildings grant this authority?

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No one else’s favorite thing was the girl from “The Dragon Tattoo” playing Sim, the gypsy lady? Loved seeing her in this. We watched this in the theater, then came home and watched the first one. Liked the second one better by far.

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Remember, Blackwood has the followers he does because they think he has legitimate sorcerous powers. The speech isn’t for the benefit of the people he’s about to kill, it’s to impress his current followers, and to provide a very public demonstration of his “magic” to the world at large.

Presumably, killing Parliament wasn’t Blackwood’s entire plan to seize control of the government, just the first step. Additional schemes intended to capitalize on the power vacuum he was about to create were rendered moot by his death.

I also wouldn’t give too much credence to his plans for his reinvigorated British Empire - saying he would reconquer America, and so forth, might have been nothing more than a bit of nationalist rhetoric to get people to support him. He may not have ever intended to follow through on that stuff once he was in control.

All that said, though, it really is a pretty ridiculous plan, and the most you can hope to do is fanwank it into Hollywood plausibility, not any sort of realism. Moriarty’s plan, on the other hand, isn’t all that impossible: it’s really not all that different from what Hearst did with the Cuban-American war, except in terms of scale, and the plot exploits political tensions that existed in that time and place. Blackwood was trying to create political instability in what was, historically, one of the most politically stable countries on Earth. The war Moriarty was trying to start really happened - only, without his help, it took another twenty years for it to come about naturally.

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But its not public - everyone in the chamber except Blackwood and his followers would (according to the plan) soon be dead. The only way “the world at large” would ever find out what happened is if Blackwood’s followers told them - there are no independent witnesses.

Well, it’s really not a better plan than innumerable James Bond villains have had - big and splashy, but preposterously unworkable.

I don’t have a specific objection to Moriarty’s “plan” (it strikes me more as an aggressive marketing campaign) as such, though it is also ridiculously complicated and a guy with his resources being unable to finish Holmes is, also, James Bondian in its implausibility.

Well, that and it takes unfortunate liberties with the source material, which suggested Moriarty was seeking profit though conventional crime rather than war profiteering or exotic weaponry. Heck, he reminds me of the villain from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen… what was his name again?

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Exactly. Blackwood doesn’t want independent witnesses, he wants witnesses he can control. Hence, he kills everyone in Parliament who isn’t already in his pocket, but does so in such a way that his conspirators are convinced he has legitimate sorcerous powers. Then his conspirators go out and tell everyone that Blackwood really is a wizard, and should be in charge of the country, or else.

At which point, everyone in the country abandons their church and their monarch to follow a self-professed devil worshiping mass murderer. Which, as you noted, is the place where the plan stops making any sort of sense.

Taken as a whole, yeah, it’s over the top, but each individual part of it isn’t really all that complicated. It’s stuff like, “Smuggle a bomb into a meeting of diplomats, and have a sniper standing by to make sure the one guy I want dead is really dead,” or “Surgically disguise an assassin as a member of a delegation, and have him shoot one of the other ambassadors.” Contrast with Blackwood’s plans, which go something like, “Call a meeting of the secret magic brotherhood. Position a sprayer in such a way as to douse the one person I want to kill in flammable chemicals. Make sure it’s raining, so he doesn’t notice the extra liquid (also, invent a chemical that’s extremely flammable, but also water proof, so the rain does wash it off, and odorless, so the guy doesn’t realize he’s doused in lighter fluid). Sneak into his house, and sabotage his pistol. Hope that he doesn’t check his gun before he leaves, or bring a different gun, or forget to bring his gun at all. Manipulate him into taking a shot at you. Hope he doesn’t try to light his pipe before he confronts you and set himself alight before you can get all mojo-ey on him and ruin the whole scene.”

If you’re talking about the movie, I hear Sean Connery bears a lot of the blame for how it turned out.

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My critiques of the movie:

First off, while Moriarty’s plan was more sensible, I noted that it was also much less interesting. At the end of it, what exactly does he gain? Yes, he earns himself a huge fortune. But this guy evidently wasn’t hurting for money. He’s already got enough to buy effective controlling interests in big companies, hire top-flight surgeons, and run his international scheme. What does he want to do with the money that he can’t do now? That, for me, is the movie’s biggest failing. We never see him pursue anything but money (well, revenge and political connections, but both for his plan), but we don’t know what he wants with it. Yet he doesn’t seem all that greedy or interested in wealth on its own. Why go to the trouble. It’d be more functional to give him a motive of achieving power, and scarier to show him as doing it because it’s fun.

I liked the idea that Holmes might be rethinking his bachelorhood. Mary likely impressed him, and he might consider that perhaps he needs to “grow up” in a way. I’m annoyed that this plot thread simply drops off halfway through. There’s a quiet moment of Holmes realizing that he lost his semi-girlfriend, and one of the few people he truly respected - and that Moriarty did it because of Holmes.

And my third point: too much shakycam! Dammit, I can’t see what’s going on. It works in some areas (the chase in Germany). For example, I nopticed many of the things Holmes later uses, but I completely missed the really big one - the twins. I didn’t even know they were twins, let alone that one had a scar. At all.

Well, all the people would have keeled over from a poison that left no trace might be mighty dangerous evidence. Also, His followers could easily have posed as non-followers and said , “Holy crap, this guy’s a wizard!”

However, I suspect that Blackwood might have taken over another way. His followers were extremely well-placed, after all. If they’re the only people left after the massacre, they could have blamed someone else, and simply taken over as the de facto government. Blackwood’s plan isn’t important to know in its entirely.

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Quite enjoyed the movie, and couldn’t help but be slightly amused by the shocked reactions of people when he went over the Reichenberg Falls.

I’m interested to see if they’re willing to kill off Watson’s wife, though. Was she a major figure in the first flick (which I’ve yet to see)?

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Reichenbach. And as a longtime Holmes fan, as soon as I heard that name I knew exactly how the movie was going to end. It was kind of cool knowing something only the real Holmes fans would know.

It’s been awhile since I’ve seen it, but I remember that she was in the movie but not a lot. I remember not liking her in the first movie. She was marginally better in the second–it was the actress I didn’t like, not the character. I thought she was far too wooden.

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BUMP

Just saw the movie again(on DVD this time) and I have to say something rather bold. One of the best movies of the year. Period. Uh, I’m going with 2012, since that is when I saw it, by the way.

I didn’t think hugely of it the first time, but man alive, this movie was amazing the second time. I absolutely love it and there is something about it that just appeals to me. I liked it as much(more??) than Avengers, and that is saying something.

What a great, fun, exciting, and all around amazing movie.

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Lucky me. I finally got around to watching the first one, and realized there’s a sequel! How awesome.

Favorite line: “By the way who taught you how to dance?”
“You did.”

So, about Irene Adler. Is she dead dead, or just maybe dead? It seemed like there’d be more reaction to her being dead dead.

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Please note that this is a thread originally from Dec. 2011.

As to Irene, it all depends on whether or not the studio wants her back. My vote, within the framework of the movie itself, is that she’s not only nearly dead, she’s really most sincerely dead.

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Yeah, I agree. She’s dead dead.

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Any chance of a third movie?

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They claim to be working on it.

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That’s good, thanks. Frankly I’ve seen enough Downy Jr. for awhile, but it’s nice to see Jude Law. I like him as an actor, but don’t care for most of the movies he’s in so I don’t see him much.

I don’t *dislike *Downy Jr at all, but I see a lot more of him.

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And then there’s this…

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Let Nicholson retire, please. There’s plenty of talent out there.

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Oh, I agree. I just posted it because it was a very recent article referring to Sherlock Holmes 3.

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Watson has unfinished business with Colonel Sebastian Moran too. I wonder if he’ll pop up again?