Longtime readers will remember that I quite liked the first Guy Ritchie/Robert Downey Jr./Jude Law Sherlock Holmes flick. It was a good mix of period piece fun, action and the larger aspects of the Sherlock mythology that I’m familiar with as someone who has only read one of the Doyle stories. I had just as much fun when my wife and I watched the sequel from last year which featured Downey Jr., Law, Rachel McAdams, Noomi Rapace and Mad Men‘s Jared Harris. As with the previous installment, I thought the casting was spot on, everyone showed up to play and the result is a really fun, somewhat cerebral action flick.

Of course, it’s difficult to think of any Sherlock Holmes story without comparing it to the wonderful BBC series Sherlock, which my wife and I also really enjoyed the first series of and are smack in the middle of the second (review coming soon). That series has done such a masterful job of capturing a modern day Holmes, that it’s nearly impossible to watch or read anything else without picturing Benedict Cumberbatch. It’s also important to remember that Sherlock Holmes predated Sherlock and the two can easily co-exist even if you prefer one over the other.

And you know what? I kind of like that there’s two different takes on a character like this. It’s kind of like how Warner Bros. had the Christopher Nolan Batman movies going at the same time as Batman: Brave and the Bold. It shows that these characters are not only somewhat timeless, but also incredibly versatile. Plus, I think it looks neato when we see how Sherlock’s thought process works when he’s about to attack someone or defend himself. I’d be in favor of one of these movies coming out every few years and living forever on Netflix Instant and weekend afternoon movies.