Downey meets his Moriarty match in ‘Holmes' sequel

Sherlock Holmes, that masterful literary creation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, revealed his intellectual greatness only when confronted with a challenger who was his equal.

Something similar happens in the second installment of director Guy Ritchie's action-franchise version, "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," where Robert Downey Jr.'s Sherlock must match wits with "the Napoleon of crime," Prof. James Moriarty.

This being an overstuffed Hollywood blockbuster, though, the stakes are raised to ridiculous degrees. Not only are Sherlock's closest associates -- his sometime crush, the conniving thief Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams), and Holmes' chronicler and partner in deduction, Dr. John Watson (Jude Law) -- in grave danger, but so is the civilized world of 1891.

This review is from The Salt Lake Tribune. To continue reading, please visit sltrib.com.