xhonzi said:

Warbler said:

I saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie. I didn't like it that much. It just didn't seem like the Holmes I know and love from the books. Well, atleast it was better than that horrible USA movie a few years ago that tried to depict Holmes as a ladies man. That was so bad, I had to stop watching it. Sadly, IMHO, no one has ever done truly accurate version of Holmes. The early Jeremy Brett years were about the closest anyone got, they were still a bit off(imho).

So much of what you and I think of as Sherlock Holmes is not actually in the novels and short stories. The deerstalker, etc. are additions to the character that Sir Arthur had nothing to do with... and I think we, as modern readers, have a hard time forgetting all of those things when we sit down to read the original books... so we sort of think they're always in there.

i.e. The book might say, "Holmes and Watson walk down the street." And in our minds eye, we see the classicly dressed Holmes walking down that street. Or it might say, "Holmes removed his hat." Sir Arthur might have meant a top-hat, or a bowler, or whatever his minds eye would have seen... but in our mind it is only the deerstalker- despite the fact that that was never his intention...

But on the other hand... I didn't really care for it myself. I was looking forward to it, but it simply failed to engage me. My wife asked, "What didn't you like about it?" and I couldn't really come up with anything in particular. It was an enjoyable way to pass a couple hours, but I didn't rush out and buy a T-shirt. It left me more "neutral" than anything. I might have enjoyed it more had it been an original IP as opposed to claiming it was Sherlock Holmes.

My wife later quoted me as "having hated it." Ah, well...

My favourite "Sherlock Holmes" movie is Zero Effect. Which I saw 3 or 4 times before I realized it was a Holmes movie.

As a Holmsian myself, I dug that this film took a somewhat extreme take on whats actually in the book... Holme's manic-depressive nature, his codependence on Watson, Watson's gambling and what not. I dug the conspiracy/mystery and even the vaguely steam-punk flavor.

Two issues bugged me.

The boxing. I actually LIKED a lot how it showed Holmes visuallize a fight before it happened. But the underground pit-fighting seemed a little forced.
How do you runn off from the sewers under parliment and end up on the incomplete top of Tower Bridge? Seriously.

I totally loved Zero Effect too. It's a spiritual brother to the new Sherlock Holmes definityl.