Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

The year was 1891.

Storm clouds were brewing over Europe.

France and Germany were at each other's throats...

...the result of a series of bombings

Some said it was Nationalists...

mothers, the anarchists

But as usual...

...my friend Sherlock Holmes...

...had a different theory entirely.

Bombing in Strasbourg! Read all about it!

- Thank you. - Anarchists suspected...

...in Strasbourg bombing!

Bombing in Strasbourg!

When did you start working for the postal service?

That was you back there.

Shame your activities have landed you in the gutter.

A curious parcel. Who's the intended recipient?

Why don't we discuss that over dinner tonight?

- I'm free for lunch. - Hmm. I'm not.

How about the Savoy, 8:00?

- Splendid. - Hmm.

And will you be coming as yourself?

Most likely.

Three men have been following you for the last half mile...

...their motives highly unsavory.

No.

Oh, and, by the way, they're not pursuing me, they're escorting me.

And instead of three, there seems to be, uh, four.

Heh.

Steady hands with that, Irene.

Oh, I don't think it's my hands you have to worry about.

Be careful with the face, boys. We do have a dinner date tonight.

Don't fill up on bread.

I forgot the rest.

Oh, it's coming back now.

Aah!

Aah!

Peelers!

We now come to Lot 34...

...Egyptian sarcophagus of outstanding provenance...

...retrieved from the Valley of the Kings.

Your payment, doctor. He sends his thanks.

Who will bid 100 pounds?

One hundred. Thank you, sir.

Please, give this to him. He's expecting it.

Tell him our friend thinks I delivered it to his sister.

Uh... Stay...

...while I check the contents.

I was assured full payment would be there.

Yes, but assured by whom?

Have you ever met him in person?

Or like me, have you been...?

Hold it, hold it. Please, don't move it.

Judging from size and weight, it's not the payment you were expecting.

I'd wager the contents are rather more incendiary.

- Who is this? - It's...

Hello, darling.

Oh, dear. I told you not to move it. It seems a secondary charge has been activated.

Sweet thing, I might need your help in the disposal of this parcel.

One thousand six hundred, 1700, 1800.

- Well, good luck. - One million pounds.

Oh, and by the way, fire.

Fire!

Leave my side, you'll be dead in an hour.

And don't be late for dinner.

My schedule will be quite tight because of these activities here.

- I've never been late in my life, only early. - Fashionably.

Mm. Mm-mm. Mm!

Very witty. So confident, even in retreat.

I'll hold onto that. We'll read it together over an aperitif.

Fine. Dinner and a show.

Stay. Trust me. This is what I do for a living.

Herr Hoffmanstahl, you should count yourself lucky.

This faceless man with whom you find yourself in business is no ordinary criminal.

He's the Napoleon of crime. Fortunately, you now have me as an ally.

I'm a consulting detective of some repute.

Perhaps you've heard of me? My name is Sherlock...

...Holmes.

Hyah!

A fresh pot of tea. Thank you, George.

Yes, Miss Adler.

Fine choice, this place.

Do you have the letter?

It was taken.

Taken? Now, that is unfortunate.

During the chaos created by your package.

Thank you.

Perhaps if you had shared your plans.

You wish to know my plans now, do you?

Did you imagine, Miss Adler, that something would happen to you?

Is that why you chose to meet here in a public place?

Your favorite restaurant?

I don't blame you.

I blame myself.

It's been apparent to me for some time that you had succumbed to your feelings for him.

And this isn't the first occasion Mr. Holmes has inconvenienced me in recent months.

The question is...

...what to do about it.

But that's my problem to solve now.

I no longer require your services.

Mrs. Hudson?

Oh, Mrs. Hudson?

Holmes, you in there?

Your hedge needs trimming.

Where am I?

I don't care where you are as long as you're ready.

I'm waiting.

I'm not gonna play this game.

Remember, I have to catch the last...

- ...train. - Uh-oh.

- That's you dead, I'm afraid. - You win.

I lose. Game over.

Still don't see me?

I'm not going out with you dressed like that.

Would you prefer I joined you in the fashion faux pas...

...of wearing fine military dress with that heinous handmade scarf...

...clearly one of your fiancée's early efforts?

Oh, how I've missed you, Holmes.

Have you? Why?

I've barely noticed your absence. Then again, I'm knee-deep in research.

Extracting fluids from the adrenal glands of sheep...

...and designing my own urban camouflage...

...all the while verging on a decisive breakthrough...

...in the single most important case of my career, perhaps of all time.

Mrs. Hudson, how are you?

Oh. I'm so pleased to see you, doctor. Thank you for inviting me tomorrow.

And thank you for looking after Gladstone.

Dear, dear sickly-sweet Nanny, might I have a word?

Yummy. Feed the snake, woman.

You feed it.

Touchy, touchy.

Doctor, you must get him to a sanatorium.

He's been on a diet of coffee, tobacco, and coca leaves.

He never sleeps. I hear multiple voices as if he's rehearsing a play.

Leave him to me.

Don't you have a goat that needs worming?

Oh, how kind of you to remind me.

So much to look forward to. What would I do without you?

Good luck with your patient, doctor.

Why are you here?

I'm getting married tomorrow.

Oh! Embrace me.

Watson's getting married.

- You've lost a few pounds, Holmes. - Yes, and you've picked them up.

- Noshing on Mary's muffins, no doubt. - Ha.

Pour us a brandy. The stag party has begun.

It is our last adventure, Watson.

I intend to make the most of it.

I see you've made good use of my old office.

- Do you like my spider's web? - Is that what you call it?

Follow that strand.

What do a scandal involving an Indian cotton tycoon...

...the overdose of a Chinese opium trader...

...bombings in Strasbourg and Vienna...

...and the death of a steel magnate in America all have in common?

Well, according to your diorama, Professor James Moriarty.

Indeed.

Mathematical genius. Celebrated author and lecturer.

Boxing champion at Cambridge...

...where he made friends with our current prime minister.

Do you have any evidence to substantiate your claim?

This. Now do you see?

- Dr. Hoffmanstahl's death? - Yes.

I've heard you speak of him, extolling his virtues.

Hoffmanstahl was at the forefront of medical innovations, a true pioneer.

Just the other day, I averted an explosion that was intended for him.

Says here he died of a heart attack.

Has all my instruction been for naught? You read the official statement and believe it.

It's a game, dear man, a shadowy game.

We're playing cat and mouse, the professor and I. Cloak and dagger.

I thought it was spider and fly?

I'm not a fly, I'm a cat.

Not a mouse, but a dagger.

You're drinking embalming fluid.

Ooh. Yes. Care for a drop?

You do seem...

- Excited? - Manic.

- I am. - Verging on...

- Ecstatic? - Psychotic.

- Should've brought a sedative. - I'll give my life to see his demise.

He must be stopped before his evil machinations come to a crescendo.

And how will he do all this?

Don't be a dingy bird. Bad people do bad things because they can.

No one, not the victims, the police, the governments, not anyone...

- Except the great Sherlock Holmes... - Correct.

- ...on this diet, will work it all out. - Right.

- Or thereabouts. - Thereabouts, not quite there.

Here's to your good health.

Dingy bird.

What have you done to Gladstone now?

Ricinus communis. The fruit is highly toxic.

He's barely breathing.

What an excellent opportunity.

This may be just the thing.

Sorry, do you mind terribly if I try my adrenal extract?

How many times are you going to kill my dog, Holmes?

Took off like a monkey from a box.

- Hmm. - I may need one of those in a few hours.

Consider it a wedding gift.

Watson, might we use an alternative exit?