Interesting that you didn't enjoy Holmes 2. I saw it this afternoon and really enjoyed it. Having read through your article I can definitely see why you thought it was bad - they might have overused the thinking out the battle before it happens thing a bit too much. However, I thought it improved on the original, as the villain in the first never really felt like much of a threat, as it was obvious that his whole black magic thing would be a traditional 'cheap tricks to scare people until Holmes works it out' arc, which sort of undermined everything he did. Moriarty in comparison, though admittedly not the best Moriarty I've seen (see BBC's 'Sherlock'), was a genuine challenge to Holmes, and the final conflict was a clever reworking of the final conflict between Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty in the original stories. I personally enjoyed the fight scenes, as they broke things down into the piece-by-piece analysis inherent in any Holmes narrative. I never felt confused during the fight scenes - everything was clear and well-constructed.
Having said all that, it's certainly a film which I can easily see as having divided reception, and I enjoy reading constructive criticism to something I enjoyed and otherwise wouldn't have examined in such a way. Thanks Bob.
