# Who is your favorite 21st century Sherlock Holmes?



## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

Please vote for your favorite 21st century Sherlock Holmes. (this is 21st century so neither Basil Rathbone nor Jeremy Brett) 

Big Sherlock Holmes fan here. I enjoyed both TV series Sherlock and Elementary and like both actors but I have to give Jonny Lee Miller the edge because he's truer to the literary Sherlock who is a tough, hard-scrapple private eye. I never did like Jeremy Brett because he came across as a snooty, highbrow college professor. I believe Sherlock was closer to a mobster than a professor, although I liked the series and appreciated the way they tried to stay true to the literature. 
Does anybody know if they are planning a Season 3 for Sherlock? I believe it had good ratings. Maybe "Elementary" put those plans on hold?


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

Favorite Sherlock is definitely Robert Downy but clearly the best Watson is Lucy Liu.


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## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

Benedict Cumberbatch 








Jonny Lee Miller 








Robert Downey Jr. 








Ben Syder


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Benedict Cumberbatch, no question. I can't believe he can memorize all those lines and shoot them out faster than he can think.


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

(I don't give a hooch about the 21st Century!) The only actor to have challenged Basil Rathbone for the SH-crown has been Jeremy Brett in the 80's Grenada series! ... IMHO; Those new geezers are just bums in comparison! 

/ptr


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## Ravndal (Jun 8, 2012)

Benedict Cumberbatch!!!


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Benedict. The third series is coming and I am looking forward to it. One of the best TV series ever made.


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## schuberkovich (Apr 7, 2013)

Benedict!!
He also appeared in the the BBC radio comedy Cabin Pressure which I also love


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Cumberbatch. See him in Parade's End, also.

I can't stand Downey Jr. in anything.

Honorable mentions to Rathbone and Brett. Brett is the best ever, due to subject matter that was allowed in his era, and not in Rathbone's. IOW character development.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

I see what you say about the 21st century but I will put my opinion in.
The 1984-94 TV series with Jeremy Brett was the real Holmes,Mr. Cumberbatch is some sort of pastiche and bears no resemblance to the real Holmes whatever.
Has anyone here read the wretched books ? 
The Brett series is running now and the man is brilliant.


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## BlazeGlory (Jan 16, 2013)

OK. I'll put my opinion in also. I think Sherlock Hound was the best.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

No one in the 21st Century has come close enough to Basil Rathbone to make me want to vote and Nigel Bruce as Doc Watson eg as in The Hound of the Baskervilles and many other flims.


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## Skilmarilion (Apr 6, 2013)

Cumberbatch, yes! 

Utterly brilliant acting. Looking forward to the new series.


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

Brett is the definitive. He *is *the books, he *is *the man that Conan Doyle saw when he imagined a fictional Holmes. He has the cerebral face, the gleam, the intensity. Holmes wasn't a Kung Fu kicking mobster. Sure, he could grapple, but he solved mysteries with his intellect.

Closest of the ones above is Cumberbatch, but really, that's a new creation, though so was Basil Rathbone, who fought the Nazis, went to New York, had the great Nigel Bruce beside him, etc. But Benedict captures the giant mind of the man.

Downey Jr? Might as well have Jackie Chan play Holmes, for all that those films add to the canon...


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

moody said:


> I see what you say about the 21st century but I will put my opinion in.
> The 1984-94 TV series with Jeremy Brett was the real Holmes,Mr. Cumberbatch is some sort of pastiche and bears no resemblance to the real Holmes whatever.
> Has anyone here read the wretched books ?
> The Brett series is running now and the man is brilliant.


Yes, I agree. I do hope the books are still being read. I grew up with them and remember locking myself in the bathroom with my hands over my ears after my brother threatened to reveal the ending of 'Silver Blaze'! 

I can imagine that Cumberbatch is good, as he has a Holmesian brooding quality as well as a seriously-dishy phizog, but I've never watched him. I didn't fancy the idea of modernising the story as the late Victorian ambience is part of Conan Doyle's charm for me.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Benedict Cumberbatch omg omg omg omg I watched the first three episodes today and Sherlock is the most amazing thing I have ever seen!!!! I looooove Sherlock and Benedict Cumberbatch!!!!!! <3 <3 <3 :'D


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

I must become the biggest fan of Sherlock the world has ever seen


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## BlazeGlory (Jan 16, 2013)

The first thing you should do is get a sunblock with a higher spf rating.


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## Ravndal (Jun 8, 2012)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Benedict Cumberbatch omg omg omg omg I watched the first three episodes today and Sherlock is the most amazing thing I have ever seen!!!! I looooove Sherlock and Benedict Cumberbatch!!!!!! <3 <3 <3 :'D


Hah. And season 2 is so much better. Have fun!


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

BlazeGlory said:


> The first thing you should do is get a sunblock with a higher spf rating.


Its what's on the inside that counts - just ask my friends, they say red is all around.... but mister Zappache does not seem to agree


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## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

Ingenue said:


> I can imagine that Cumberbatch is good, as he has a Holmesian brooding quality as well as a seriously-dishy phizog, but I've never watched him. I didn't fancy the idea of modernising the story as the late Victorian ambience is part of Conan Doyle's charm for me.


Did you enjoy the Basil Rathbone movies? My point is, most of those had a 20th century backdrop. As Kieran has pointed out.


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## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Benedict Cumberbatch omg omg omg omg I watched the first three episodes today and Sherlock is the most amazing thing I have ever seen!!!! I looooove Sherlock and Benedict Cumberbatch!!!!!! <3 <3 <3 :'D


Wait until you see the ending of the last episode. Mind blowing!


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Not just the ending - that whole episode was fabulous. I have watched it at least 3 times already.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Pyotr said:


> Did you enjoy the Basil Rathbone movies? My point is, most of those had a 20th century backdrop. As Kieran has pointed out.


No, I'm afraid I didn't - I'd grown up hearing praise of Basil Rathbone and he certainly looked the part, but I was disappointed when I finally saw one of his portrayals of Holmes. Jeremy Brett is the definitive Holmes for me, and the late Victorian setting is part of the charm. For the same reason, I loved 'The Forsyte Saga'.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Pyotr said:


> Did you enjoy the Basil Rathbone movies? My point is, most of those had a 20th century backdrop. As Kieran has pointed out.


Either it's true to the books or it is not and that's an end to it!
How many of theses whippersnappers have read the books or seen Brett so I wonder what they are basing their opinions on.


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## Ravndal (Jun 8, 2012)

"Sherlock" is a modern twist, and it doesn't try to be anything else. And it is a really great show, with good actors and a good plot. 
I don't see why it has to stay true to the books. It works as it is. It's like Glenn Gould on Bach. He tried something else, he didn't completely follow the composers intentions - but it still turned out a success.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Ravndal said:


> "Sherlock" is a modern twist, and it doesn't try to be anything else. And it is a really great show, with good actors and a good plot.
> I don't see why it has to stay true to the books. It works as it is. It's like Glenn Gould on Bach. He tried something else, he didn't completely follow the composers intentions - but it still turned out a success.


I think that Gould's Bach is just a novelty.
Also,of course it should stay true to the original which is a basic English masterwork--or go away and write something completely new.
I wouldn't want to see David Copperfield updated to present day New York---though no doubt it has been !!!


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## BlazeGlory (Jan 16, 2013)

I have read on IMDB that Rhys Ifans will be playing a recurring role in Elementary as Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock's famed brother. He will make his first appearance in the Season 2 premiere which was or will be filmed on location in London.

Which brings me to the subject of a possible future poll. Who is/was the best Mycroft Holmes?


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

We're heading toward discussing the great elephant in the room: Moriarty. The Cumberbatch version of Moriarty was an hysterical screaming child. A truly embarrasing creation, given what he is in the books and on previous versions on telly and film, especially Eric Porter's creepy, malevolent professor.

My favourite Mycroft? Charles Gray (I know, the Brett version again), but I also liked Christopher Lee's too, in a movie from the '70's...


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

Kieran said:


> Downey Jr? Might as well have Jackie Chan play Holmes, for all that those films add to the canon...


Downey Jr. shouldn't take (all) the blame, he is a good actor when he wants to be, the real problem with those films is Guy Ritchie, he is simply not a good filmmaker. _Snatch_ and _Lock Stock_ were clearly designed to position him as the English Tarantino, but they were both insubstantial bores that weren't a patch on "classics" of British gangster cinema like _Get Carter_, and since then he's been turning out garbage like _RocknRolla_ and the absolutely heinous _Revolver_.


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

Crudblud said:


> Downey Jr. shouldn't take (all) the blame, he is a good actor when he wants to be, the real problem with those films is Guy Ritchie, he is simply not a good filmmaker. _Snatch_ and _Lock Stock_ were clearly designed to position him as the English Tarantino, but they were both insubstantial bores that weren't a patch on "classics" of British gangster cinema like _Get Carter_, and since then he's been turning out garbage like _RocknRolla_ and the absolutely heinous _Revolver_.


That's true. Kind of hamfisted witlessness...


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

Kieran said:


> That's true. Kind of hamfisted witlessness...


I'd say that's a fair description of his particular talents.


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## Guest (Jun 27, 2013)

Often when you convert book to screen, characters get very skewed. The persona that becomes dominant depends on which of the two gains greater popularity. Case in point: James Bond. The Sean Connery James Bond of Dr. No, while not exactly like the book, still came close. But the James Bond in Ian Fleming's books bore little to no resemblance to the later Connery films, or the Roger Moore Bond, or really any of the others. Yet Connery owned the role, and that is who many still envision when they think of Bond. Or consider the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz. In the book, she was an old crone. In the movie, she is a green cackling woman with a long chin. Close your eyes, and which of the two do you picture?

Cumberbatch does a good job with the cerebral role of Holmes, and I really enjoy that BBC series. He has now become the Holmes I picture. Rathbone seemed too snooty, but still, his was THE face of Holmes for a long time. I enjoy Miller's portrayal as well - a different one, also bringing in more of Holmes' eccentricities. I will say, as well, that I really enjoy the Downey Jr. Holmes movies - not because I think they are the most true to the books, but because I find them to be genuinely entertaining movies all in their own right. Downey Jr., for me, has had an incredible second half of a career, and is getting better with age.


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