“Does Your Depravity Know No Bounds?”

I have to admit, all the chatter about how actor Robert Downey Jr. was going to play a more “bad-ass” version of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Great Detective in director Guy Ritchie’s upcoming “reboot” of the Sherlock Holmes legend turned me off. When it comes to Holmes portrayals, I’m partial to Jeremy Brett’s quirky, rather irritable, but still faithful interpretation of the character from the 1984-1994 British TV series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

However, the initial trailer for Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes (due for release on Christmas Day of this year) is making me rethink my resistance. Its action-comedy aspects appear balanced with an interesting curiosity about the detective’s deeper psychology. And while it’s hardly unique to explore the possibility of Holmes having had hidden sexual appetites (a subtext that also featured, for instance, in the 2002 made-for-TV movie Case of Evil), Downey brings to the role a playful self-indulgence and insouciance that might be just as interesting as previously abstemious depictions of the most famous fictional sleuth in history.

Of course, movie trailers can be mightily deceptive.



The film’s plot synopsis goes like this: “In a dynamic new portrayal of Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous characters, Sherlock Holmes sends Holmes and his stalwart partner [Dr. John H.] Watson on their latest challenge. Revealing fighting skills as lethal as his legendary intellect, Holmes will battle as never before to bring down a new nemesis and unravel a deadly plot that could destroy the country.” Jude Law takes the part of Watson, while the lovely Rachel McAdams stars as singer-cum-femme fatale Irene Adler.

The official Sherlock Holmes Web site is here.

After seeing--and very much enjoying--director J.J. Abrams’ non-stop action “rebooting” of the Star Trek franchise, I’m hoping Ritchie and Downey can bring that same sort of new life and intrigue to Holmes, without too much sacrifice of traditions.

(Hat tip to Notes from Hemingway’s Lounge).