So apparently Sherlock Holmes was first and foremost an Ultimate Fighting champ. Who knew?

[Orrex]

Wasn't he also a beekeeper or a detective or something?

[old mark]

1. In the stories, Holmes was a boxer, and carried some sort of weapon much of the time,

ranging from a weighted walking stick to a large revolver. More liberal laws then about beating the lower classes senseless.

He also injected cocaine and played the violin.

mark

[Orrex]

2. But didn't he occasionally solve crimes?

From the trailer, that aspect doesn't even appear to be part of his character.

[old mark]

5. Solving crimes was his primary interest and his passion - everything else was

ancillary window dressing.
Try to find one of the books and read it - It may be interesting to you.

mark

[SteppingRazor]

6. Not just a boxer, but a particularly good one.

The bodyguard in "The Sign of Four," a man much bigger than Holmes, recalls getting whupped by him in an amateur boxing competition. In another story, Holmes bends an iron bar with his bare hands. He was also a solid fencer and a crack shot.

I'm a big fan of the Holmes works, and while the new movie obviously stresses action, as Hollywood films a re wont to do, I don't think it strays too far from the character, from what I've seen. It just focuses on the more action-hero-like aspects of Holmes' character, which were already present in the original works.

[Orrex]

11. Well I have to say that this thread has been quite educational for me.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

12. That's right.

I think Guy Ritchie, who likes and makes violent drug-fueled movies, must have been a fan of the books and was constantly tired of seeing Holmes portray as some stuffy, foppish upperclass English gentleman.

[peekaloo]

3. All that cocaine made him mighty fidgety.

Does he enter Iron Man Competitions, too?

[Rabrrrrrr]

4. It's the JJ Abrams-ification of stuff that was perfectly fine the way it was originally done

Since seeing the first preview way back many months ago, I said "Well, that character might be called Sherlock Holmes, but this movie is not going to be about the Sherlock Holmes of Doyle."

Still waiting for one of these artless new shlock directors to remake Citizen Kane - I'm sooooooooo curious to see what they will choose to blow up, and who they will choose to be shot, and, I hope, turn the reporter into a hard-boiled buff violent private eye investigating the truth at the end of a flamethrower mounted to his BMW convertible.

[Posteritatis]

8. My first thought on seeing the trailer was "Detectives of the Caribbean." (nt)

[Orrex]

10. And the romance between Watson and Uhura seemed totally forced

[Rabrrrrrr]

15. And the tryst between Mrs. Hudson and the Cardassian Ambassador did nothing for the plot.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

7. Those of us who've actually read Sherlock Holmes stuff knew

As mentioned in the other posts on this thread, Holmes was quite a boxer. Further, in "The Adventure of the Empty House", Holmes claims to be a student of baritsu, a Japanese martial art. It's how he defeated Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls.

[Orrex]

9. Interesting--that's news to me.

I haven't read any Holmes stories in at least 15 years, so I either never knew or else had forgotten his martial prowess.


But even with that being the case, the issue isn't whether or not he could put up his dukes; it's whether or not this was the defining aspect of his character, as it's portrayed to be in the trailers.

[cemaphonic]

13. My favorite Holmes characteristic that never seems to be adressed in adaptations:

He has an army of street urchins on his payroll to provide information, shadowing people, and the occasional distraction.

[jobycom]

14. The old stuffy proper version of Holmes is no more literary than the Ritchie version.

He was a popular fiction character like Robert Langdon in his era, so the Masterpiece Theater version doesn't really put him in context, either. They are all interpretations of him, to be viewed on their own merit rather than some adherence to old films and traditions, imho.

Oh yeah, Raymond Chandler was a big fan of Holmes when he created Philip Marlowe, and admitted to being influenced by Holmes. Ian Flemming admitted modeling James Bond somewhat after Marlowe, and of course James Bond has influenced Guy Ritchie heavily. So Holmes has come full circle.

And of course Sherlock Holmes was just a clever British rip-off of Edgar Allan Poe's C Auguste Dupin, who started the whole detective genre in the first place.

[DarkTirade]

16. He was actually a bit of a Mary Sue.

Too good at everything. :)

[Orrex]

17. Encyclopedia Brown could totally kick his ass!

[gratuitous]

18. This version is a little closer to the right age

Holmes and Watson are late 20s, early 30s in the stories, and so many of the adaptations have them huffing and chuffing around in their late 40s or older.

[DerekG]

19. Right up there with Singer's Superman: The Deadbeat Dad

Tune in next week for Phil Marlowe, as interpreted by Sly Stallone.

[Tabasco_Dave]

20. He liked his morphine fix

I only saw one movie that addressed his drug habit.