2009′s Sherlock Holmes introduced us to a very Joel Silver interpretation of the character: witty, energetic and built like an undercover Schwarzenegger. A far cry from Arthur Conan Doyle’s rather more sedentary Holmes.

At first glance pointless against the BBC’s Sherlock, the Guy Ritchie interpretation managed to bring something new to the legacy. Something kinetic, something hyper-stylish and most importantly, something that turned out to be a lot of fun.

Sure, at times it felt as though someone wanted to make a vaguely steampunk-ish action thriller and by coincidence found the property lying around their office. But everyone involved was having a lot of fun — not least Robert Downey Jr. in the title role, clearly drawing on method techniques to create his unique version of Sherlock Holmes — and the first film became an unlikely standout in the winter of 2009.

A Game of Shadows starts as it means to go on: with a bomb blast and a suitably overblown fight scene. There’s a string of apparently random events across Europe, and nobody – save Sherlock Holmes, of course – catches their connection. That connection, as the fans among us will know, is one Professor James Moriarty. From there it’s a race between set pieces, from England to France to Germany to Switzerland with a quick side-step to get Jude Law‘s Dr. Watson to his wedding on time.

It’s all punctuated, particularly in that wedding scene, by some over-the-top comedic moments defined by some broadly aimed one-liners, not all of which hit their mark. Understatement has never been Downey Jr.’s strong point, and it shows here.

There’s a sequence with Sherlock Holmes in a dress, though, which adds a couple of layers onto what threatens to be simply a ridiculous action set piece riddled like Swiss cheese with clichés. Should you encounter some new, confusing feelings during this sequence, that’s fine: Robert Downey Jr. is a freebie. Just go with it. Nothing he does will affect your Kinsey score.

The problems with the whole thing arise from the Roadrunner-like pace, remaining steady for all its two-hour running time. There’s a whole bunch of new characters to get to grips with - Stephen Fry, Noomi Rapace, a whole family of henchmen who look basically alike but we’re concentrating on only one of them – none of whom get the proper development they really deserve (in her first English-speaking role, Noomi Rapace gets the especially short shrift). The finer details of the central mystery get lost, too, which has the odd effect of concentrating the action towards the final showdown in Switzerland, at which point you have probably lost all track of what’s going on.

But Guy Ritchie does an excellent job of the action scenes, and really, that’s what you paid for. As with the first movie, A Game of Shadows isn’t really a Sherlock Holmes story; it’s a story about a man who happens to share his name.

It’s also, in essence, a film about two men, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, who happen to love each other in a totally heterosexual way. In the first film, the longing gazes and double entendres were confined to the subtext; in the sequel, they’ve been promoted to the text. Love interests get shunted out of the way in the most contrived circumstances: Watson’s wife is thrown into the river, Rachel McAdams disappears in the first act of the film to offer some thin attempt at “motivation” for Holmes. Another one for the fridge, then. The result is a film that could be hosted in its entirety on the blog Victorian Gentlemen in Love, and all the better for it.

In case any readers out there are thinking of going into the production game, this reviewer would happily watch a film about two men who love each other and solve mysteries. Moustaches optional, but encouraged.

A Game of Shadows is ridiculous, muddled, and undeveloped. Fortunately, thanks to some excellent direction and game performances, it’s also a little bit awesome.

How did you like Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows?