The game is on in “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows”

Robert Downey Jr. reprises his role as the world’s most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, and Jude Law returns as his friend and colleague, Dr. Watson, in Warner Bros.’ new action-adventure “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.”

Sherlock Holmes has always been the smartest man in the room…until now.  There is a new criminal mastermind at large—Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris)—and not only is he Holmes’ intellectual equal, but his capacity for evil, coupled with a complete lack of conscience, may give him an advantage over the renowned detective.

Around the globe, headlines break the news: a scandal takes down an Indian cotton tycoon; a Chinese opium trader dies of an apparent overdose; bombings in Strasbourg and Vienna; the death of an American steel magnate…  No one sees the connective thread between these seemingly random events—no one, that is, except the great Sherlock Holmes, who has discerned a deliberate web of death and destruction.  At its center sits a singularly sinister spider: Moriarty.

Holmes’ investigation into Moriarty’s plot becomes more dangerous as it leads him and Watson out of London to France, Germany and finally Switzerland.  But the cunning Moriarty is always one step ahead, and moving perilously close to completing his ominous plan.  If he succeeds, it will not only bring him immense wealth and power but alter the course of history.

Filmmaker Guy Ritchie returned to direct “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” the follow-up to the smash hit “Sherlock Holmes.”  The sequel also reunited producers Joel Silver, Lionel Wigram, Susan Downey and Dan Lin.  Bruce Berman and Steve Clark-Hall served as executive producers.

In her first English-speaking role, Swedish actress Noomi Rapace, who gained international attention in the Swedish film “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” plays a mysterious Gypsy named Sim, who becomes allied with Holmes and Watson in their quest to stop Moriarty.  Jared Harris (TV’s “Mad Men,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) joins the cast as the notorious Professor Moriarty.  Stephen Fry (“Alice in Wonderland,” “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”) plays Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock’s decidedly eccentric older brother.

Returning from the first film, the cast also includes Rachel McAdams as Irene Adler; Kelly Reilly as Watson’s bride, Mary Morstan; Eddie Marsan as Inspector Lestrade; and Geraldine James as Holmes’s long-suffering landlady, Mrs. Hudson.

“Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” was written by Michele Mulroney & Kieran Mulroney.  Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson were created by the late Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and appear in stories and novels by him.

Ritchie once again collaborated with the behind-the-scenes team from the first movie, including director of photography Philippe Rousselot, production designer Sarah Greenwood, editor James Herbert, costume designer Jenny Beavan, and composer Hans Zimmer.

Opening across the Philippines in January 2012, “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.