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Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Sherlock Holmes : A Game of Shadows - Very good !



        Sherlock Holmes was always a great character to be portrayed on the big screen. The literature associated with Holmes has a great following. One of the most intriguing characters ever, even more so in the crime genre. 

So, when Guy Ritchie got into a risky endeavour of making a movie adaptation of this popular piece literature that could have gotten a lot of Holmes fans pissed had he gone wrong with his movie. But, he did a good job and made a good movie. Not flawless but a well made movie.

This emphasized the need for his second movie in the series to succeed and surpass the quality of the first movie. So, has he been able to accomplish that? Yes, kind of!

Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr) is still an arrogant and self absorbed being.  Dr.Watson (Jude Law) has now decided to get hitched and makes up the sub plot. Meanwhile, an extremist group is trying to destabilize the European continent by planning a series of bomb explosions across geography. Holmes has already decided to unravel the conspiracy and is trying to expose Prof.Moriarty (Jared Harris) who he thinks is probably the master mind behind all the unfortunate events.  It turns out that Holmes is right in his suspicions and Morirarty has an evil plan behind the explosions. During their effort to explore the matter, they meet Simza Haron (Noomi Rapace),a gypsy who is deeply entwined with the events but is unaware of it. She accompanies Holmes and Watson on their journey to get to the crux of the matter and investigate the case. They transcend geographical boundaries to go across Europe and get into dangerous and life threatening situations but eventually succeeding in their mission to stop this whole operation run by Moriarty. 

The games between Holmes and Moriarty are fun to watch and interesting all through. The actions and reactions are well written into the script and well acted out.

This movie is definitely a step ahead of the first one. Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law give fascinating performances and look brilliant in their parts. Noomi Rapace does a good job in the extended cameo that she has and makes the audience feel that she should have got more screentime than what she actually did. Jared Harris is good too and stands tall in his performance. Guy Ritchie is extremely confident with his control over the narration and works with a tight script. Hanz Zimmer is in top form as always. His score adds further interesting feel to the proceedings.

The original story book loyalists may still feel a bit disgruntled with Guy Ritchie’s big screen adaptation. He does take a few creative liberties but I think Ritchie should be applauded in getting the story portrayed as real as it could have possibly been in an entertaining form. Not the best that Ritchie could do but ‘Sherlock Holmes- A Game of Dark Shadows’ is still more than being just worth a watch!




Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Awesome!



        Spy thrillers are yummy to watch when they are done right. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is definitely a thriller but done very differently. It unfolds at its own sweet pace but is catchy from the word go till the last frame.

The movie starts with the killing of a Mark Strong, a spy who is in Hungary looking for information on a 'mole' in the British Intelligence agency who is passing on all the secrets to the Russians. The problem is that the ones who are under the scanner are the heavyweights and the job is more difficult than finding a needle in a haystack. So, Gary Oldman, a retired spy gets recalled by his former boss to help the agency in this matter.

Gary Oldman goes through tons of records and files to understand what really took place during his absence at the agency. He is surprised by what he gets to know during his investigation. He combs through all the information he has about Tinker(Toby Jones),Tailor(Colin Firth), Soldier(Ciaran Hinds), Poorman (David Dencick) . The story then is about how masterly Gary Oldman reaches to the root of the problem and unmasks the mole.

Actors are often judged on how they emote, how they can get through the scenes with finesse and style. The dialogues have to be delivered well but the real test is when there are minimal dialogues. Gary oldman is a fucking genius on that level.We see him at his best in this movie He has always been an amazing actor. But, this movie can convert last few haters left(if any).

He is ably supported by the brilliant star cast and each one has put in amazing performances. The direction is immaculate and one can see how nicely the director narrates the story going back and forth it time and giving out plot details in form a jigsaw puzzle pieces. It is this aspect of the movie that makes it an awesome watch.The movie tries its best to do justice to the John Le Carre novel that it is based on.

This movie should be shown to budding actors as a guide to acting. It never goes over the top and neither does it make the proceedings way too confusing for the audience. Entertaining, interesting and subtle, 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' is a MUST watch.