Soggy Whitebread

Guy Ritchie returns with another dose of Holmesian antics starring Jude Law & Downey Jnr in the meh-some Sherlock Holmes Game of Shadows. I guess the success of the first film emboldened Ritchie as he really let rips with his trademark guffing about, with a bullet time bonanza, not-as-smart-as-he-thinks-it-is dialogue and lumbering attempts at humour which results in him squeezing out an unabashed action film, largely devoid of intelligence and with a central character that bears little resemblance to Doyle's cerebral sleuth. The two leads are still as ill suited and uneasy in their respective roles as before but, thankfully, their ineptitude is somewhat offset by more admirable performances from Rapace and Harris. It's reasonable multiplex fodder I suppose but insubstantial and entirely forgettable.

Equally as half witted is Man on a Ledge, an almost 80's-dumb thriller about a revenge heist perpetrated by a on the run convict. Sam Worthington mumbles and looks confused throughout his balancing act and as the plot unfurls into mediocrity it drags in Ed Harris and Jamie Bell to the uninspired shenanigans. There's little tension and with a humdrum script that spoon feeds the plot out it's pretty much the epitome of mangled, soul less factory product being churned out in Hollywood these days. Out of the two, and it pains me to say this, I'd recommend Ritchie's film as at least it has some gloss.