Sherlock Holmes: the Game of Shadows is as subtle as a vision of an angry flaming phoenix riding the wave of Armageddon. It is chaos that is blitzed and revved up by adrenaline. Depending on whether you’re into relishing salubrious amount of big-screen apocalypse, regardless of its state or respect to its origins, then this grossly reimagined The Game of Shadows, again directed by Guy Ritchie, definitely believes in enunciating its subject: anarchism. James Moriarty (Jared Harris), Sherlock Holmes one-true villain, was introduced as a shadowy figure in the last Holmes, is a benefactor for global war. It takes Holmes about an hour – and a series of action sequences that are a mind-numbing attack on the senses – to clue that Moriarty has been secretly industrialising and rationing weapons. He plans to make a killing – in the literal sense of the word.

So much happens so soon in the film that it may be a good idea to have an aspirin or two nearby when watching. I, quite frankly, love big, meaty, chaotic blockbusters if they are shrewdly made, and The Game of Shadows is nothing if not shrewd. Bullets, bombs and haymakers barrage the screen without as much as a breather for more than 50 per cent of the film. The remaining 50 per cent continues fostering Holmes and Watson’s bromance.

Robert Downey Jr, who plays Holmes, is even more eccentric than the last time, and his anarchic haphazard nature has rubbed off on Jude Law’s Watson. Their relationship has progressed into an embrangled 30-year marriage – where spouses can’t stand the sight of each other yet will stand firm in adversities.

Like a hard-headed, rejected woman (Downey really milks this part dry), Holmes finds time to ruin Watson’s bachelor party and honeymoon.

Holmes actions come out as premeditated spite. And every obstacle that Holmes drags an involuntary Watson into has a connected action set piece – and they are woozy!

For instance: in one of the film’s many sped-up/slow-motion sequences that give us insight on his deduction skills, Holmes tells Watson to wait for the perfect moment when a singular bullet would jam the firing mechanism of a Gatling gun, laying waste to the train compartment they’re riding. Watson can then take out the assaulter with a single shot from three compartments away. Holmes calculation is so precise that he actually counts down seconds before the guns’ mechanism actually jams. Meanwhile their cubicle is steadily torn down with massive, deafening gunfire.

The preposterousness is sensational, because Holmes’ computation of time and elements works without fail. He has little regard for unknown forces jumping his plan, and this quite simply fractures the sensibility of logic.

Starring Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, Noomi Rapace, Jared Harris, Stephen Fry (as Holmes eccentric older brother), Kelly Reilly and Rachel McAdams, the film has been produced by Joel Silver, Lionel Wigram, Susan Downey and Dan Lin. It has been written by Kieran Mulroney, Michele Mulroney and is based on the characters created by Arthur Conan Doyle. Released by Warner Bros, Sherlock Holmes: the Game of Shadows is rated PG-13.