As Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris) conspires to start a world war by pitting France and Germany against each other, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (Robert Downey, Jr., Jude Law) try to outwit him.

The two stars are still fun to watch and they’re superbly aided by a solidly creepy Harris as Moriarty and Stephen Fry as essentially himself, playing Sherlock’s crafty brother Mycroft.

Guy Ritchie employs some of the same visual tricks as in the 2009 original; some of them are effective, most of them merely emphasize this sequel’s generally bloated silliness.

2011-U.S.-U.K. 129 min. Color. Widescreen. Directed by Guy Ritchie. Cast: Robert Downey, Jr. (Sherlock Holmes), Jude Law (John Watson), Noomi Rapace (Simza Heron), Rachel McAdams, Jared Harris, Stephen Fry, Eddie Marsan. 

Trivia: Gary Oldman and Daniel Day-Lewis were reportedly considered for the part of Moriarty.