Sherlock Holmes and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Jude Law 2012 DVD

Guy Ritchie directs this double bill of action thrillers starring Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law. ‘Sherlock Holmes’ (2009), based on a new story by producer Lionel Wigram using Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous characters, follows Sherlock Holmes (Downey Jr) and his loyal assistant Dr Watson (Law) as they deal with a mysterious new nemesis: Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong), a cult leader and Satanist who harbours the most deadly of intentions. Abandoning the accepted portrayals of Holmes and Watson, as perfected by Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce in the films of the 1930s and ’40s, Downey Jr’s Holmes is a modern, bohemian man of action and intellect, while Law’s Watson is no longer the bumbling fool of old, but a much sharper character with an eye for the ladies and a taste for gambling. In ‘Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows’ (2011) the Crown Prince of Austria is found dead and Inspector Lestrade (Eddie Marsan) pronounces suicide as the cause of death. But Sherlock Holmes deduces that the prince has been murdered – and is soon untangling an international web of intrigue, in which all threads appear to lead to criminal mastermind Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris). The supporting cast includes Stephen Fry, Kelly Reilly, Geraldine James and Noomi Rapace.