Trailer Tuesday: Sherlock Holmes

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Ohboyohboyohboyohboy... I have to say that this first trailer for Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes makes the action-adventure-mystery look like a rollicking good time - tonally a sort of Victorian era Pirates of the Caribbean. And I love the fact that the storyline seems to involve dark rituals and the occult. How very Alan Moore.

Anyway, as I'm sure you have worked out from watching the trailer, Richie's film is somewhat of a departure from previous Sherlock Holmes movie and TV adaptations. This can be explained by the fact that the film isn't based directly on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic novels about the genius gentleman detective, but rather on a as-yet-unreleased comic/graphic novel by the film's producer Lionel Wigram.

This said, Conan Doyle's Holmes is apparently far more bohemian in the books than he has ever been portrayed onscreen. Although the character's amazing intellect remains the same, he is also known to be an excellent combatant and has something of a heroine habit.


Having already played Charlie Chaplin to great acclaim in 1992, there's little doubt that Robert Downey Jr. can pull off the English accent and physicality that the role requires - even if ultimately Downey Jr. looks to be largely rehashing his Tony Stark performance, with the addition of a few more self-destructive tendencies.

Jude Law's slim and sexy Doctor Watson seems to have also undergone a "reimagining" to rival Holmes's. Although he is still the detective's reliable right hand man, Watson has competencies, and problems (womanizing, gambling), of his own.

Rounding off the cast are Rachel McAdams as Holmes' feisty love interest, and Mark Strong, who seems to have cornered the market in devious villains lately, as the sinister Lord Blackwood.


Sherlock Holmes opens in North America in 7 months time on Christmas Day. I expect it to open in South Africa around the same date, or sometime in January 2010.

And for those of you interested, I've blogged before about this production of Sherlock Holmes, and a rival comedy also in production. Click here and here to read more.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I remember reading that SA is only getting it in February 2010. :(

G
7:40 AM
Pfangirl said…
That's a long bloody wait:(
9:28 AM
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