Post by Steve on Nov 3, 2023 23:51:49 GMT -5
I'm on record as a fan of Mr. Downey Jr. Loved his work in Zodiac, Good Night And Good Luck, In Dreams and Oppenheimer (to name a few) and his portrayal of Tony Stark gave me no choice but to get on board with a Marvel character I would otherwise have had no interest in.
All that being said, I couldn't accept him even for a second as Sherlock Holmes. An American actor playing such a very British character does not sit well with me, no matter how good he is. I don't think Guy Ritchie was the right choice of director for those films either. I like my Holmes adaptations to be very theatrical, stylised period pieces and Ritchie usually makes action movies or comically violent gangster flicks.
Had that 2009 movie been called Victorian Era Private Detective, I might have given it a pass. The moment you invoke the name Sherlock Holmes, though, it creates a very different set of expectations. For someone who has been a fan since my thirteenth birthday, and considered Holmes a role model for manhood, the combination of Ritchie and Downey Jr was a bridge too far. The only thing he once had in common with the man he played was a fondness for a certain white powder.
My favourite Holmes is and always will be Jeremy Brett, who played him on television from 1984-95. Peter Cushing is an honourable second. He first appeared as Holmes in Hammer's 1959 version of The Hound Of The Baskervilles and donned the deerstalker again nine years later in a BBC TV series. Sixteen episodes were made. Unfortunately only six of them still exist in full.
I am also a fan of Benedict Cumberbatch, who helped introduce the character to a new generation. He's great as Doctor Strange too.
All that being said, I couldn't accept him even for a second as Sherlock Holmes. An American actor playing such a very British character does not sit well with me, no matter how good he is. I don't think Guy Ritchie was the right choice of director for those films either. I like my Holmes adaptations to be very theatrical, stylised period pieces and Ritchie usually makes action movies or comically violent gangster flicks.
Had that 2009 movie been called Victorian Era Private Detective, I might have given it a pass. The moment you invoke the name Sherlock Holmes, though, it creates a very different set of expectations. For someone who has been a fan since my thirteenth birthday, and considered Holmes a role model for manhood, the combination of Ritchie and Downey Jr was a bridge too far. The only thing he once had in common with the man he played was a fondness for a certain white powder.
My favourite Holmes is and always will be Jeremy Brett, who played him on television from 1984-95. Peter Cushing is an honourable second. He first appeared as Holmes in Hammer's 1959 version of The Hound Of The Baskervilles and donned the deerstalker again nine years later in a BBC TV series. Sixteen episodes were made. Unfortunately only six of them still exist in full.
I am also a fan of Benedict Cumberbatch, who helped introduce the character to a new generation. He's great as Doctor Strange too.
