‘Holmes’ in time

In theaters now: The Darkest Hour, War Horse

New on DVD/Blu-ray: Apollo 18, Final Destination 5

If English filmmaker Guy Ritchie is angling for a future seat in the director’s chair for the James Bond franchise, he makes a strong case for such with Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, the latest in his crime thriller series that evolves Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic sleuth into a spit-fire, action-seeking 007 for the Victorian Age.

Robert Downey Jr. is back as the brainy detective, playing him quick-witted and acidic. Once again it is the lead actor’s deft blend of punkish sophomoric attitudes and Mensa-level smarts—both endlessly fry the nerves of his straight-laced compatriot Dr. Watson—that buttresses the film.

As the sequel begins, Holmes is hot on the trail of Prof. James Moriarity, the man seen only briefly and in shadow in 2009’s original. An evil genius masquerading as an esteemed educator and author, Moriarity is scheming to get filthy rich as Europe’s foremost supplier of weaponry for the oncoming Industrial Age. After a shocking first act death, Holmes finds himself in the professor’s crosshairs as well. The detective and the doctor must survive Moriarity’s assassins and intricate traps long enough to stop a plan that could trigger the first world war.

Mad Men’s Jared Harris gets the nod as Moriarity, playing him as cold and calculating as the war machines he hopes to command. He is a true buttoned-up menace on screen, a Bond or Batman-level villain with a diabolical plan for domination the intellect to pull it off without a trace. Though the overarching plot is slower to be revealed this time around it soon catapults to an unexpected and exhilarating conclusion. Gone are the pseudo-supernatural underpinnings of the original, replaced by an eye for historical fiction that could dovetail easily into a slightly fantastical version of turn-of-the-Century Europe.

Downey and Jude Law, as Watson, are simply magnetic on screen. As they race across Europe to solve the mystery at hand, their bickering, love-hate chemistry is more akin to an odd couple romance than a partnership of keen-eyed, steel-nerved investigators. These are flawed heroes, vulnerable and empathetic even amid endless verbal sparing, and once again their journey provides witty, escapist fun for all.