Guy Ritchie's Only Sequel Officially Lands on HBO Max

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Despite numerous attempts, director Guy Ritchie has only ever made one sequel in his career. He has directed spin-offs of his past work, but he also holds the rare distinction of having made around half a dozen would-be franchise-starters that didn’t take off. Among them are RocknRolla, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Aladdin, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, Fountain of Youth, and most recently, In the Grey. Now, the only sequel of his career has been added to the Prime Video library, as its long-awaited follow-up remains stuck in development hell.

The movie in question was released theatrically in 2011, merely two years after its blockbuster predecessor. The original film was itself a reboot of a classic property, but fresh enough to catch the attention of audiences. It grossed $525 million worldwide against a reported budget of $90 million, and is now the subject of a fun piece of trivia: it’s the seventh-highest-grossing film never to top the weekend domestic box-office chart. And what’s the movie that prevented it from taking the number-one spot, you may ask? Why, James Cameron‘s first Avatar film, of course.

Four criminal masterminds. One of them was always going to be yours.
Here is who comes for you, why they picked you out of everyone available, and what they want from
the encounter.

Your nemesis does not want to beat you. He wants to know you
completely, and he is patient enough to wait for it. The frightening part is how good the
conversation is.

• Lecter is the most dangerous kind of opponent: the one who finds you interesting. He
  never raises his voice, because he has never needed to.
• You keep a great deal to yourself and you are careful about what you show. That reserve
  is exactly the door he would knock on.
• The films understood something other thrillers missed. The horror is not the violence.
  It is being perfectly understood by the wrong person.
• He would be unfailingly polite about all of it. That is the worst part.

Your nemesis is not after money, territory or revenge. He is
after a demonstration, and you are the person he has chosen to prove his point on.

• The Joker only picks opponents who believe in something. Your decency is not a defence
  against him. It is the entire reason he showed up.
• He has no plan you can predict and nothing you can take away, which removes every tool
  you would normally reach for.
• His whole argument is that you are one bad day away from being him, and you would spend
  the rest of your life proving him wrong.
• He would call it a magic trick. You would call it the worst night of your life.

Your nemesis respects you, which sounds flattering until you work
out what it means. He chose you because nobody else was worth his time.

• Moriarty is the original criminal mastermind, the template every later one borrows from:
  a mind the equal of the hero’s, pointed the wrong way.
• You enjoy being the cleverest person in the room. He is counting on exactly that, and he
  has already built the room.
• This is the rare nemesis who would be genuinely disappointed if you lost badly. He needs
  the game to be worth playing.
• It ends the way these things always end. Two people, one problem, and only one way down.

Your nemesis has no personal interest in you whatsoever, and that
is precisely what makes him unsurvivable. You are not a rival. You are a stop on the way.

• Chigurh does not negotiate, gloat or explain. He arrives, he asks one question, and the
  answer was decided long before you opened your mouth.
• You trust yourself to handle things. He is the one problem in the world that has no
  interest in how capable you are.
• No Country for Old Men rewrote the screen villain by removing the thing audiences
  quietly rely on: the sense that talking might work.
• Call it. He will wait.

The Franchise Remains in Limbo

• Image via Warner Bros.

• Image via Noomi Rapace in Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows.

• Image via Warner Bros.

• Image via Warner Bros

• Image via Warner Bros.

Image via Warner Bros.

Image via Noomi Rapace in Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows.

Image via Warner Bros.

Image via Warner Bros

Image via Warner Bros.

• Image via Warner Bros.

• Image via Noomi Rapace in Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows.

• Image via Warner Bros.

• Image via Warner Bros

• Image via Warner Bros.

Image via Warner Bros.

Image via Noomi Rapace in Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows.

Image via Warner Bros.

Image via Warner Bros

Image via Warner Bros.

By now you’ve probably guessed that we’re talking about Sherlock Holmes, and more particularly, its sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Produced on a reported budget of $125 million, the movie grossed more than $540 million worldwide. It now holds a 60% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is a good yarn thanks to its well-matched leading men but overall stumbles duplicating the well-oiled thrills of the original.” Starring Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, and Noomi Rapace, the film is now streaming on HBO Max in the United States, while a third installment remains in limbo even after 15 years. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows