Sherlock Holmes - What has Richie done?

[Tim Hole]

Guy Richie has turned Sherlock Holmes in a Hollywood action hero. I am not judging it before i see it...I am a Robert Downey Jr fan and think he will be excellent as him in one fashion. But this is not the Holmes that I have loved my whole life.

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810045845/video/13526202

[Mitch Gross]

All of the high speed sequences, including some featured in this trailer, were shot using the Phantom HD.

[Tom Lowe]

This has nothing to do with the Holmes I knew growing up reading the books and watching the old Masterpiece Theater version. Ritchie's career has been going downhill since Snatch. This trailer is a major "WTF" moment.

[Jonathan Stevenson]

This has nothing to do with the Holmes I knew growing up reading the books and watching the old Masterpiece Theater version. Ritchie's career has been going downhill since Snatch. This trailer is a major "WTF" moment.
Agreed. I thought Holmes was the master of deductive reasoning and investigation, not shirtless boxing and diving out of buildings into the River Thames.

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Blasphemy! Hehe... I likes watching a good train wreck, though.

Tim Burton turned Ichabod Crane from a schoolmaster to a private investigator with action-hero elements for his Sleepy Hollow creation. I actually enjoyed that one for a quirky film. So maybe this one will be alright. Looks like a good "grab your bucket of popcorn and check your brain at the door" sort of film.

BTW, there was that one film in the late '80s with Michael Cane and Ben Kingsly. Good idea, Watson being the brains behind the operation and Holmes being a bumbling idiot that took all the credit to keep Watson out of the spotlight. Unfortunately the story itself, welll, zzzzzzz....

[Tim Hole]

This has nothing to do with the Holmes I knew growing up reading the books and watching the old Masterpiece Theater version. Ritchie's career has been going downhill since Snatch. This trailer is a major "WTF" moment.

totally! I think the less we say about the Madonna film the better.
It is a major change of pace for Holmes, but it might just be the trailer.

Checked on IMDB and nobody is majorly credited as Prof. Moriarty so thats one saving grace.

[Alan Skinner]

Blasphemy! Hehe... I likes watching a good train wreck, though.

Tim Burton turned Ichabod Crane from a schoolmaster to a private investigator with action-hero elements for his Sleepy Hollow creation. I actually enjoyed that one for a quirky film. So maybe this one will be alright. Looks like a good "grab your bucket of popcorn and check your brain at the door" sort of film.

BTW, there was that one film in the late '80s with Michael Cane and Ben Kingsly. Good idea, Watson being the brains behind the operation and Holmes being a bumbling idiot that took all the credit to keep Watson out of the spotlight. Unfortunately the story itself, welll, zzzzzzz....

Yes, Kingsley and Caine in "Without a Clue". Very entertaining actually. The both of them made it work. I can suspend my "purist" Sherlock Holmes for a fanciful tale so am looking forward to seeing the new one.

[Joseph Ward]

It seems it would make more sense to portray Holmes and Watson lovers these days then this. Not that there's anything wrong with that. :nopity:

[Omar Saad]

Officially starting the petition to rename to "Xmen Origins: Sherlock Holmes"

What is up with the 5 story dive into the river and those pit fighting sequences...lol?

In all seriousness, I always try to reserve as much judgment as possible when viewing trailers...but yes Guy Ritchie directing has worried me from the beginning.

[Tim Hole]

I think there was a lot of "wouldn't it be cool if..." talk going on during the development. In answer...no it wouldn't be cool! maybe for some other Victorian ero hero that you could quite easily just conjur into existence. Don't dredge the name of Holmes through the crap of the Thames.

[Jay Voutour]

Well, if I remember correctly, Holmes was a pretty good amateur boxer. Who was addicted to cocaine. Maybe that explains the pit fights and casting choice?

I keed, I keed. Robert Downey is the MAN! :D
________
SUZUKI RG150 (http://www.suzuki-tech.com/wiki/Suzuki_RG150)

[Justin Kirchhoff]

We shouldn't blame it entirely on Ritchie, it's not like the guy wrote the mov.....oh wait. No lets blame it all on Ritchie.

[Christopher Adams]

I think that other then downey bring the crows in $$ wise I would have
preferred Mark Strong as Holmes not Downey.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0835016/

[Jay Voutour]

I think that other then downey bring the crows in $$ wise I would have
preferred Mark Strong as Holmes not Downey.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0835016/

I would've went with Ralph Fiennes.

...Man, I've been saying that a lot lately.
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CB750A (http://www.honda-wiki.org/wiki/Honda_CB750A)

[Mitch Gross]

I think if you look at the original stories you will find that Ritchie might not be stretching things so far. Just because other filmmakers went in a different direction doesn't mean they're more "accurate." Who knows? It could be a decent movie.

[Coco B]

Considering Guy Ritchie is a Brit, It feels wrong, very wrong indeed.

Degrading Holmes to a mere action hero. :head_explode:

Is Ritchie lapdancing for a certain audience? I wonder which one?!:cool:

[Joyfool]

Could this be based on the Holmes action comic? Warner owns DC comics afterall...

[Jag Sandhu]

The Guy has done his homework.

The fisticuffs fight scene is a reference to Sherlock being proficient in the mixed martial art of Bartitsu practised by English gentleman around the early 1900s.

Bartitsu is named after William Barton who was a jujitsu student.

The Adventure Of The Empty House is the story in which Sherlock practices Baritsu (misspelled by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle).

Richie may deliver us a Victorian James Bond.

[PaulClements]

Actually Sherlock Holmes was a fist fighter and took Cocaine... Seriously I kid you not. I'm not taking the piss. I remember this from years ago but had to check on Wikipedia (So it must be true lol) but something rang true when I read the thread, to Quote:

Fist-fighting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fist-fighting) Holmes is described as a formidable fist-fighter. In The Sign of the Four (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sign_of_the_Four), Holmes introduces himself to a prize-fighter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_boxing) as:
“ "The amateur (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_boxing) who fought three rounds with you at Alison's rooms on the night of your benefit four years back." McMurdo responds by saying, "Ah, you're one that has wasted your gifts, you have! You might have aimed high, if you had joined the fancy." ” Holmes engages in hand to hand combat with his adversaries on several occasions throughout the stories, inevitably emerging as the victor.[28] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_holmes#cite_note-27)

Paul

[PaulClements]

The Guy has done his homework.

The fisticuffs fight scene is a reference to Sherlock being proficient in the mixed martial art of Bartitsu practised by English gentleman around the early 1900s.

Bartitsu is named after William Barton who was a jujitsu student.

The Adventure Of The Empty House is the story in which Sherlock practices Baritsu (misspelled by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle).

Richie may deliver us a Victorian James Bond.
Lol... this was the quote underneath the last quote:

Martial arts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_arts) "The Adventure of the Empty House", Holmes recounts to Watson how he used martial arts to overcome Professor Moriarty (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professor_Moriarty) and fling his adversary to his death at the Reichenbach Falls (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichenbach_Falls). He states that "I have some knowledge, however, of baritsu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartitsu), or the Japanese (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan) system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_martial_arts) of wrestling (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grappling), which has more than once been very useful to me.""Baritsu" was a drafting error on the author's part who meant to refer to the real martial art of Bartitsu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartitsu).

[Mitch Gross]

And as for accuracy, just how many of the James Bond films have included Ian Flemming's detail that 007 has a passion for egg salad? And not just to go with his Beluga caviar!

[PaulClements]

And as for accuracy, just how many of the James Bond films have included Ian Flemming's detail that 007 has a passion for egg salad? And not just to go with his Beluga caviar!
And that he drank more whisky than shaken martini's in all of fleming's books.

Paul

[PaulClements]

All that aside though, the film does look rather odd... Though I can't help but feel that's Ritchie's sense of humour to put out a big brash advert with explosions and whatnot, simply to get people to say what the hell has he done. I doubt the film will play anything like it.

Paul

[Ed Watkins]

When I first saw the trailer I thought it was a spoof of the real one. Then, alas, I noticed was the real one I was watching.

I'm hoping that the trailer is one of those ham fisted attempts by a US studio to make a film trailer fit into a nice neat category (action for this one) so they can package it easily for an audience. Although I sadly doubt it...

On a side note:
Ever notice they do this for every foreign language film ever?
I've never seen a trailer for one where any of the characters actually speak, instead they have the over the top narrator dictate the plot, and totally miss sell it because heavens-forbid an audience would ever see a foreign language film like Amelie knowing what it was.

See what I mean:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQfTBrR6D4k :)

[Tim Hole]

I am not disputing holmes ability to fight, neither am I dismissing his supposed expertise with the singlestick. Its the rest of the trailer and the Richie tone that is really playing with my mind. The dive out of the window for one. Maybe we are just used to see a rather aged version of Holmes and this is a younger play on it...but then traditionally speaking Watson would not have been around at that point.

It has always been a point of conversation that the darker side of Holmes' nature has not really been explored in TV or film...only alluded to...but the whole trailer reeks of "Hollywood Does Holmes"...

I hope you are right Ed that this is a just a trailer to rally interest to maximise on attendance and interest, upon release. I am staying positive and try to believe that they have been true to his character in the larger sense. That the centre of the film IS the science of deduction, the twists of the tale...and NOT a Victorian John McClane saving London.

[mytherapy]

I was lucky enough to have worked on this film. We were responsible for Phantom HD shots of the fighting scene and some SI2K shots that haven't made it into trailer. It was mainly to do with integration of these digital sources to the rest of the 35mm shot material.
All I can say is that it is going to be great movie. Sherlock Holmes is much more than what we have seen on the screen so far and it is great that somebody is updating the story. In a way this is a film that my kids are going to like more than any other existing Sherlock Holmes version out there.
This movie is doing to do great job for the audience that hasn't seen any Sherlock Holmes movies before.
And in regards to Guy Richie - don't just judge him by what press and critics say ... he might be really nice guy - you never know

[Coco B]

It sounds like you got well paid for the job you did on this movie.

(nothing peronal)

Let's watch it first though, I agree (even though, mmhhh)

[Tim Hole]

In a way this is a film that my kids are going to like more than any other existing Sherlock Holmes version out there.
This movie is doing to do great job for the audience that hasn't seen any Sherlock Holmes movies before.

These two comments basically encapsulate my fears...

I don't want this film to be something enjoyed by kids (no offence to you and your family of course). If people havent seen or read Holmes before its horrendous that this would be seen as the first outing....But I can't really say this because I havent seen the film. I'm just going by the trailer.

Obviously the film looks fantastic, the acting will be top notch, the directing will be stylish and playful...but will it hold true to the essence of Sherlock Holmes.

I am in no way considering that its like the horrendous 'almost' catastrophe of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez remaking Casablanca a few years back...not in the least. I am just a little disappointed lets leave it at that ;)

[liquidigital]

If people havent seen or read Holmes before its horrendous that this would be seen as the first outing....But I can't really say this because I havent seen the film. I'm just going by the trailer.

I think this can actually be positive/ make people seek out and compare the originals. I don't think I would have been prompted to read Edgar Rice Burroughs's TARZAN if I hadn't seen GREYSTOKE. And even the horrid TARZAN:THE APE MAN with Bo Derek. God, she was... wow.

Anyway, I'll see any Sherlock Holmes film because I'm a fan of the character, so although the trailer looks a bit off, I'm reserving judgement.

[Paul Leeming]

totally! I think the less we say about the Madonna film the better.
Depends which Madonna film you are talking about.... this one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1dYv_gKTA8) is short but very funny! :rofl:

Enjoy!

Paul

[Sanjin Jukic]

Nobody can "judge" about any film upon a trailer but as I can "smell" this could be Ritchie's biggest box office success.

[David Wyatt]

It's based on a graphic novel apparently...so it's not going to be traditional, more of a reimagining/reloading of the franchise (it worked for "Batman"!). Maybe a bit like "From Hell" [but with more believable accents hopefully!!]?

Incidentally I remember hearing that a lot of the traditional Sherlock Holmes iconography like the deer-stalker hat, the cape and the curvy pipe weren't even in the book - they were dreamt up for stage and film versions....

[Yannick Hagman]

I feel sad that the majority of the audience seems to like such bullshit.

[Alan Skinner]

Define "bullshit"?

[Yannick Hagman]

Hmm.. unoriginal stuff that attracts the intellectual needs of 8 year old infants?

The best thing is actually avoiding such movies completely.

[Alan Skinner]

Yannick, While we may agree that it is unfortunate that the large percent of humanity now prefers to watch sports being performed to reading a good book, it is what it is. 8 year old infant minded people pay for movie tickets. Not every film can or has to be a deep thought provoking masterpiece. A good rip-roaring adventure can be satisfying occasionally too.

EDIT: Not arguing with you. Just looking at reality.

[Yannick Hagman]

Yannick, While we may agree that it is unfortunate that the large percent of humanity now prefers to watch sports being performed to reading a good book, it is what it is. 8 year old infant minded people pay for movie tickets. Not every film can or has to be a deep thought provoking masterpiece. A good rip-roaring adventure can be satisfying occasionally too.

EDIT: Not arguing with you. Just looking at reality.

Alan, I have nothing against entertainment as long as it has some sort of content. But by watching this trailer I feel it's quite ovious that it's a movie designed by managers to sell tickets. I think we could be surprised how many swear about the non existent indie movie distribution system in another thread here and then buy a ticket for just this movie.

I think there are more people who read a good book instead of watching sports at TV, but Nike won't show ads on the back of bookcovers. Domination of monetarism. Literature lovers wear black anyway. :)

My opinion is that you can educate the people to be pleased by that sort of content. Many fellows are passive in selecting content at most. If you own enough multiplexes they will watch it. If you end up having the choice among Superman or Sherlock Homes you and your friends will choose whatever.

England clearly shows that with its cuisine. Only stupid people would eat all that unhealthy food. I don't think that English people are any more stupid than the rest of the world. But the thing by eating out in England is: You have to eat garbage. :) :beer:

[Petr Dvorak]

Interesting. Why not? Its just trailer. We will see how SH looks from this point of view. :popcorn:

[ericyoung]

...
England clearly shows that with its cuisine. Only stupid people would eat all that unhealthy food. I don't think that English people are any more stupid than the rest of the world. But the thing by eating out in England is: You have to eat garbage. :) :beer:

What?! There's no doubt there's quite a lot of garbage food available in England, but to generalise so much even in jest...Believe me there are worst cuisines in the world! In fact I just had a brilliant fish & chips - nothing soggy, tasteless or greasy about it and less than £10 :-)

[Tim Hole]

It's based on a graphic novel apparently...so it's not going to be traditional, more of a reimagining/reloading of the franchise (it worked for "Batman"!). Maybe a bit like "From Hell" [but with more believable accents hopefully!!]?

Incidentally I remember hearing that a lot of the traditional Sherlock Holmes iconography like the deer-stalker hat, the cape and the curvy pipe weren't even in the book - they were dreamt up for stage and film versions....

No that is absolutely true! He was never described wearing a deerstalker hat, and he never would...unless he was in the country (being a hat for rural attire - same goes for the cape!). He was fashion conscious and 'properly' dressed! It would be ludicrous to even consider a London gentleman such as Holmes to wear a deer stalker hat in the city. He never smoked a Calabash pipe...he has been described as having three specific pipes. A black stone pipe, usually a rosewood pipe and then the cherrywood pipe when he was in a mood.

It was during the theatre productions there were put on during the victorian period that a certain actor started using the Calabash on stage.

Graphic Novel...it all makes sense now. I looked it up. Yes it is based on the yet unpublished graphic novel take on Sherlock Holmes by former WB Creative Exec Lionel Wigram.

"Though the plot of Wigram's approach to the 19th century detective remains a secret, it is believed it reimagines Holmes as a more adventurous character, who exploits his pugilistic talents and swordsmanship, according to Variety.

Warner Bros has been considering a new cinematic approach to the Baker Street resident for a number of years, with The Descent director Neil Marshall at one point attached to direct."

I have no problem with the re-imagining of stories or characters and do at some point encourage it to a certain level, as long as it is artistic at heart. I am just a bit precious of this one I think.

It is the same as remakes. I am not looking forward to the remake of Rififi as it is another of my absolute favourite films.

[Alan Skinner]

I do agree that we should all work to bring the masses good content and teach them the value.

Uphill climb but wouldn't it be nice to think that we could make it happen! :)

[Coco B]

England clearly shows that with its cuisine. Only stupid people would eat all that unhealthy food. I don't think that English people are any more stupid than the rest of the world. But the thing by eating out in England is: You have to eat garbage. :) :beer:

Don't say that! It simply ain't true. With all the Michelin star restaurants you don't have to eat garbige. :popcorn:

[Yannick Hagman]

What?! There's no doubt there's quite a lot of garbage food available in England, but to generalise so much even in jest...Believe me there are worst cuisines in the world! In fact I just had a brilliant fish & chips - nothing soggy, tasteless or greasy about it and less than £10 :-)

:beer:


Don't say that! It simply ain't true. With all the Michelin star restaurants you don't have to eat garbige.

I never had the pleasure. :)

[Petr Dvorak]

pics
http://blog.newsarama.com/2009/05/07/sherlock-holmes-mystery-solved/

[Tim Hole]

Thanks Petr. Well all I can say is, it is a complete bastardisation of a literary hero to make money. Not impressed! Basically riding on a name to get a greenlight.

lets hope it fairs better than his Rebel without a Cause reimagining with Vanilla Ice (Cool as Ice)

[Guillaume Poulin]

If you had read early developments on the movie, you'd know that it's the studio who wanted to do a reboot as ''cool'' as Batman Begins. They wanted to have a character as ''cool'' as Batman. So they hired Guy Ritchie and told him that they wanted him to do an action flick with Sherlock Holmes. And with the weird career of Ritchie, he sure would accept to to a blockbuster and make a new impression. Cause the guy have a lot of talent but his choices wasn't all wise over the last years. (Especially Swept Away)

[Coco B]

Holywood studios won't last long. They're acting out of fear, knowing there are new kids on the block.

[jonnycom]

I enjoy Robert Downy most of the time but this looks like a bad idea hatched by a bunch of greedy agency schmucks over lunch at the Ivy.