Humorous Holmes and Serious Holmes: My Impression of the Movie Series "Sherlock Holmes" and the TV Series "Sherlock"

I watched the movie "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" and I really enjoyed Robert Downey's humorous Holmes and great action scenes in this movie. (In the entry "Guy Ritchie and Quentin Tarantino　Good Taste and Bad Taste," I wrote about Guy Ritchie.)



Recently two of pastiches of Sherlock Homes novels, Guy Riche's movie series "Sherlock Homes" and BBC's drama series "Sherlock", were made and both of them were quite successful.

Originally I've been a big fan of Arthur Conan Doyle's novel series "Sherlock Holmes" since I was a child, and I loved both series, which were very contrasting.

In the 1980's the drama series "the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," in which Jeremy Brett played as Sherlock Holmes, was made. This series reproduced the original novel quite precisely, and its historical authenticity was perfect. Jeremy Brett's Holmes perfectly looked like the real Sherlock Holmes, although I haven't seen real Sherlock Holmes yet.



After this series, producers, who tried to make the live action version of a Sherlock Holmes story, might be freed from the original novels, because it was obviously impossible to reproduce more precisely than "the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes."

Both of Guy Riche's movie "Sherlock Holmes" and BBC's drama "Sherlock" were basically based on the setting of Arthur Conan Doyle's novels, but Guy Riche and BBC made their own interpretation of the original novels successfully.

Robert Downey's Sherlock Holmes was humorous. His drag on a train might be a parody of Jack Lemmon in "Some Like It Hot." In the original novel, Holmes was mischievousness and teased Dr. Watson. The first Sherlock Holmes short story, "A Scandal in Bohemia", which is one of my favorite Holmes novel, was a light romantic comedy, and Irene took Holmes down.





On the contrary Benedict Cumberbatch's Holmes on BBC drama series was modern and serious. The original novel was also modern, for example Dr. Watson was a disabled veteran from Afghanistan, and Holmes was a cocaine addict. In the drama "Sherlock" Holmes made full use of IT devices in the twentieth century. In the original stories, Holmes also used advanced devices at his age, automobile, telephone, and so on.



I love both of Holmes. Robert Downey's Holmes had enough emotional capacity to be humorous, because was already adult, and Benedict Cumberbatch's Holmes had a tension, because he was still young.

I am eagerly looking forward to the next Guy Richie's "Sherlock Holmes" and "Sherlock season 3."