New Sherlock Holmes Movie

[Hawkeye]

I saw it yesterday as well, and it was a lot closer to the stories and novels than the action-heavy trailers suggested. There are LOTS of nods to the stories - some of them funny, some of them illuminating - and the look of the film on the screen is fantastic. The London that Guy Ritchie creates is nothing short of amazing. Downey and Law are both believable, and the story deals as much with their friendship as it does with the mystery plot. In fact, Downey in particular portrays a wonderfully distracted, eccentric, and - when the situation demands it - focused hero. As soon as I got home from the film, I checked IMDB to make certain that there's going to be a sequel!

[Mosstrooper]

Saw it today and enjoyed it , may not be exactly Conam Doyles - Holmes , but very entertaining !

[Skrapwelder]

After thinking on it a bit I think that these are excellent portrayals of Holmes and Watson but they are just not the Holmes and Watson you would discuss in polite society or put down on paper for the general public to read about.

Holmes was very well versed in the martial arts and if you listen to some of the hard core believers in Holmes they will tell you that he surely must have invented Bartitsu while in disguise as Edward William Barton-Wright. Nothing else could explain his using it in a story that occurred 4 years before the particular martial art was introduced to London society.

[Gluteus Maximus]

After thinking on it a bit I think that these are excellent portrayals of Holmes and Watson but they are just not the Holmes and Watson you would discuss in polite society or put down on paper for the general public to read about.

Holmes was very well versed in the martial arts and if you listen to some of the hard core believers in Holmes they will tell you that he surely must have invented Bartitsu while in disguise as Edward William Barton-Wright. Nothing else could explain his using it in a story that occurred 4 years before the particular martial art was introduced to London society.

Maybe it portrays the Holmes and Watson that really solved the cases, but were then sanitised by Watson when he wrote them up to be more acceptable to Victorian society?

I could believe that sort of early spin-doctor     

[Hawkeye]

Doyle (or better yet, Watson) describes Holmes as being an expert boxer, fencer, and single-stick fighter, so I have no problem with his martial prowess. I like that his skill with disguises is in the movie too - and it's very nicely handled. Had the modern popular taste for action occurred to Doyle, I'm sure that there would have been more of it in the stories, but the movie is a lot of fun, in any case, and it's great inspiration for gaming!

[Plynkes]

I want to learn Bartitsu. It looks like just my kind of martial art, judging by these pictures...



It seems perfect for a gentleman adventurer like myself. 

[Gluteus Maximus]

I like the offensive use of the overcoat 

[Doc Twilight]

I want to learn Bartitsu. It looks like just my kind of martial art, judging by these pictures...



It seems perfect for a gentleman adventurer like myself. 

Whilst doing research for my Shanghai, 1930 range,  I came across a similar "walking stick" martial art first developed in India, and then exported to Hong Kong (from there, presumably, on to Shanghai, and I assume London). Very similar illustrations and diagrams, but the men demonstrating are Indians or Sikhs.

Wonder if it's the same thing? Or at least related?

-Doc

[Skrapwelder]

I'm pretty sure that Barton-Wright incorporated cane fighting from the French Canne de Combate at the same time he added Savate into the Bartitsu repertoire.

There's a nice little write up of the whole thing here:
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/mamatas_12_09/
There are places that still try and teach Bartitsu as an exploration into Historical sword styles. One of them is in San Francisco where they have seminars on Victorian single stick as well as Bartitsu

http://bottasecretaproductions.ning.com/

[richarDISNEY]

WORST MOVIE I SAW THIS YEAR.  Next time, I might go catch a  Uwe Bolle movie.  It had to be better than this crud. 

I was let down from the get go.  Law was OK at the best of times, while Downing was HORRIFIC!
This would have been a cool flick of you would have gotten rid of the "ta da! I'm SUPER-HOLMES!  WHERE'S MY CAPE..." aspect and got rid of Downing...
I wanted my money back.

[Hammers]

I want to learn Bartitsu. It looks like just my kind of martial art, judging by these pictures...



It seems perfect for a gentleman adventurer like myself. 

Bloody marvellous! And all you need is a Spanish cane, a boater and some Hungarian moustachio wax.

[YPU]

Something I got from a Movie review at the escapist; and I wonder what you lot think of it. The best personification of Holmes is the tv series star, House. You know, the gruff doctor who breaks all the rules and only does his work to show of how smart he is. I thought it was an interesting concept.

[Hammers]

WORST MOVIE I SAW THIS YEAR.  Next time, I might go catch a  Uwe Bolle movie.  It had to be better than this crud. 

I was let down from the get go.  Law was OK at the best of times, while Downing was HORRIFIC!
This would have been a cool flick of you would have gotten rid of the "ta da! I'm SUPER-HOLMES!  WHERE'S MY CAPE..." aspect and got rid of Downing...
I wanted my money back.

So it is shit, is it? I imagined it to be when I read how they'd interpreted the characters (and how they are portrayed in the poster). To me it seems like the producers are whoring to the slack jawed, illiterate masses who want their heroes to be and appear as cover persons of glitz magazines. Pheh, I say.

[Plynkes]

Personally I thought it wasn't that bad. I rather enjoyed it, apart from a bit in the middle where I was tottering on the brink of finding it tedious. But they got me back just in time.

All this talk of "gay" seems to me a load of uptight nonsense, obviously put about by people who haven't even seen the film, the types who see a plague of liberal media values under (or in) every bed, the same way they did with Commies in the 50s.

One: The film has no gay agenda. Not even a hint of one. It's a buddy movie, about buddies, just like all those awful films with Mel Gibson and Danny Glover.

Two: So what if it had anyway? Who gives a fuck?


Certainly the best Guy Ritchie film since his first one (admittedly, that isn't saying all that much).
 

[axabrax]

I'm pretty sure that Barton-Wright incorporated cane fighting from the French Canne de Combate at the same time he added Savate into the Bartitsu repertoire.

There's a nice little write up of the whole thing here:
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/mamatas_12_09/
There are places that still try and teach Bartitsu as an exploration into Historical sword styles. One of them is in San Francisco where they have seminars on Victorian single stick as well as Bartitsu

http://bottasecretaproductions.ning.com/

That is awesome. Where did you dig up the photos? I live just South of SF and am tempted to go in for a demonstration...