Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows

The new Holmes starts as it means to go on: with a bang. Hardly a minute of the film goes by without some sort of explosion, punch-up, shoot-out or high-speed chase, all stamped with Guy Ritchies trademark fast-forwarding, rewinding, slow-motion, super-fast pans and snappy editing. This is a Holmes for the MTV/PlayStation/YouTube generation.

And yet it still manages to evoke the grime and opulence of the Victorian age. The smoggy streets and lavish interiors of London and other European cities have once again been lovingly - and convincingly - recreated in CGI, captured in high-contrast, shadow-rich hues or the warm glow of gaslight. Hans Zimmers brilliant - and often very loud - score is full of atmospheric strings and the clanking of metal on metal, reminding us that we are witnessing the industrial revolution at its peak.

The plot this time centres on the mental battle between Holmes and his nemesis, Professor Moriarty. After a troupe of henchmen hijack Watsons honeymoon, the beleaguered doctor reluctantly follows Holmes on a pursuit across Europe, accompanied by a band of gypsies out to rescue one of their clan.

The chemistry between Robert Downey Jrs Holmes and Jude Laws Watson is as effervescent as ever. Their homoerotically-tinged sparring matches provide the highlights of both Holmes films, while Jared Harris (Lane from Mad Men) is deliciously chilling as the sophisticated but almost pervy Professor Moriarty. The thrill he gets out of torturing Holmes to the music of Strauss borders on sexual and offers a sort of 19th century twist on the ear-slicing scene in Reservoir Dogs.

Noomi Rapace has a disappointing role as the gypsy fortune teller Madam Simza. While blank-faced stoicism might have worked for Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, here it just comes across as flat.

Kelly Reilly still doesnt get much of a look in as Watsons long-suffering fiancé. Perhaps she could provide the strong female lead that the franchise sorely needs in the inevitable third film? But we do, happily, get to see a lot more of Stephen Fry - perhaps a little too much in one particular scene - as Holmess smug brother Mycroft.

The script sometimes gets a bit carried away with modernising the dialogue - would Watson really have called Holmes Sherly no mates? - but the visual gags work well, with Downey Jr appearing as the least convincing, and most attractive, man in drag since Val Kilmer in Willow.