[NEohioPAL] Holmes: Surprisingly canon

[Kelly and Phil Florian]

First and foremost the new Holmes movie was very entertaining.  Holmes and Watson are honestly the original buddy-cop story and the fact that it comes across as a fun buddy-cop romp shouldn't be surprising!  What is great is that contrary to folks who think this movie was a departure from A.C. Doyle canon, the opposite is true.  Many films since the original stories departed quite quickly from the canon and introduced things that while some consider true (the flappy ear hat and pipe, for example) were actually film contributions.  Holmes was anything but some boring talky detective.  While Jeremy Brett will still be my favorite Holmes, I can appreciate Guy Ritchie's fun take on the character and his return to the original stories more pulpy roots.

What the movie got right that people seem most offended by is the fact he is an action hero as much as an intellectual one.  The books/short stories clearly point to his mastery of boxing and a Japanese martial art know as Baritsu.  In one movie scene he is seen shooting the letters "VR" into a wall with a gun.  Not what one would remember Holmes for but again, this was in the stories not just the movie.   He was cleary a drug addict and likely bi-polar (he had many episodes of despondence and withdrawal in the books and needed a new case or more drugs to move this forward).   

I think any one who is a fan of Holmes and his fun relationship with Watson, the deductions, the interactions with Scotland Yard, etc. etc. will really enjoy the movie.  It is far from some drawing room mystery.  There are no "you might wonder why I gathered you all here" moments but this isn't Poirot...this is Holmes, the Victorian era action hero. :-)

Enjoy!
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