comment #1

Scott Mendelson says ...

Wow... this looks shockingly dreadful. It's Sherlock Holmes... TO THE EXTREME! I know they are after a specific Playstation 3, Twitter, Facebook audience, but the need to shove the 'hip' and 'edgy' elements in our face is almost embarrassing. Aside from that, it looks much like a variation on Young Sherlock Holmes (which I did enjoy). This almost feels like a parody of a 'modern' Sherlock Holmes reboot. Really... I'm shocked.

The thing I kept thinking of was this classic viral clip, made in the wake of Loonatics a few years back.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CN8diADMEmY
It's f-in EXTREME!

comment #2

Phatang! says ...

Is the trailer over yet?

comment #3

Carl Kolchak says ...

Looks like Butch and Sundance: The English Years

comment #4

DeeZee says ...

Guy Ritchie raped my childhood literature.

comment #5

DeeZee says ...

Should've just remade Arsene Lupin or Lupin the Third, since it would fit better with the character.

comment #6

superset5 says ...

That looks not so good.

comment #7

DeeZee says ...

Oh, and Jeff has another chance to argue about film with grain vs non-grainy film as Digital Bits just posted its opinion on the subject.

comment #8

actionlover says ...

This movie's gonna be AWESOME!

comment #9

Pinko Punko says ...

actionlover, you blew it:

I'd go:

"I could see getting blazed and catching a matinee."

comment #10

BurmaShave says ...

Wicky Wild Wild Wicky Wicky Wild Wicky Wild Wicky Wicky Wild Wild...

comment #11

Imogen says ...

I loved it! Can't wait!

comment #12

dinovelvet says ...

Verdict - garbage. If its a spoof, its brilliant. But obviously, it isn't. Burmashave is dead on, this has a distinct Wild Wild West odor to it. Sherlock Holmes in a Matrix style fistfight? Diving in slow motion as an explosion goes off? Did Joel dust off the unused script for Lethal Weapon V and just replace the names Riggs and Murtaugh with Holmes and Watson? Let me guess, Watson is going to do parkour across the rooftops and there's going to be a bullet-time shootout too? Does a senior detective tell Holmes that he's off the case?

Its a Poochie movie.

comment #13

COCO says ...

"London Knights"?
Where is Jackie Chan?

comment #14

drbob says ...

His accent is a little shoddy.

comment #15

actionman says ...

i love how many fans I have around here...

movie looks a'ight

the one thing I know is that Eddie Marsan rules.

comment #16

Rich S. says ...

Really does look like outtakes from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, doesn't it? The difference there was that they got U.K. actors to play U.K. characters.

comment #17

BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey says ...

Downey looks like the problem here, playing Holmes like Captain Jack Sparrow.

comment #18

btwnproductions says ...

The sequel to YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES: MID-LIFE CRISIS SHERLOCK HOLMES.

comment #19

schwob says ...

stop hating. it was fun and big and broad and different.
see it...if you dont like it then hate it.
but its a trailer.
A TRAILER!

comment #20

Krazy Eyes says ...

I don't think this looks horrible at all. I think Guy Ritchie has made some good films and has the right sensibility for this type of project so I'm willing to give the whole thing the benefit of the doubt.

I didn't see anything remotely "Matrix" style about the fight scenes -- just slow-motion. I think people are projecting way too much onto this.

comment #21

BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey says ...

I'll definitely see it. Jude Law's little rant was amusing. And Mark Strong will be ace as the baddie.

comment #22

Imogen says ...

The boxing scene in the script is a brilliant piece of writing that explains how Sherlock Holmes thinks. As I have said before, the script reads like a Victorian Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid -if you remember the scene between Butch and Sundance before they jump into the waterfall tghat will give you a good feel for how Homes and Watson are with other. It has adventure and a little romance, but it is very,very dark at times, too. There is no scene in this trailer that does not appear in the script. I think we are in for a wonderful ride and cynics I laugh at you..

comment #23

mccool says ...

Is it bad that the first movie that came to mind while watching this trailer is 'Navy Seals'? All I needed to see was the shot where he jumps out the window into the Thames, reminding me of the ridiculous scene from 'Navy Seals' where Charlie Sheen jumps out of a moving jeep off of a bridge into a river a few hundred feet below.

comment #24

Admiral82 says ...

Meh, it doesn't look terrible awful.

I too "could see getting blazed and catching a matinee."

comment #25

BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey says ...

What is the general HE consensus on RockNRolla? I really enjoyed it. Great cast.

comment #26

Jeremy Fassler says ...

Wow...it's going to take A LOT of suspension of disbelief and killing of brain cells in order to enjoy this one.

comment #27

actionman says ...

Bosh -- RockNRolla was certainly better than Revolver and Swept Away, but it wasn't as good as Snatch, which is my favorite movie from Ritchie.

I watched the trailer again and it played better the second time. Looks like a fun movie. I like the apparent grittiness. And McAdams is smokin' hot.

comment #28

Ronald McFirbank says ...

Shite Holmes

On the other hand, I'd love to see Guy Ritchie's biopic of Martin Luther King Jr. The first bullet rings out, King dives from the balcony and emerges from a somersault on the parking lot below clutching two revolvers. "I have a dream!" shouts James Earl Ray, J. Edgar Hoover and Lyndon Johnson standing behind him. "Well, I have a gun, you pasty-ass honky muthafucka!" yells King and blows him away.

comment #29

BurmaShave says ...

Skip, Ritchie is not capable of something that amazing.

comment #30

DeafBrownTrashPunk says ...

I'm soooo gonna see this.

comment #31

bachelorcool says ...

Bomb. The League of Ordinary Gentlemen.

comment #32

hawthorne says ...

This message board is starting to resemble one from AICN on a bad day there. Gee I am so not surprised that Jeff posts this and all of the haters come out and try to out snark each other...except for a few of you. Well no one is making any of you go and watch it. It looks entertaining to me and I thought that was one of the goals of movies. oh I forgot.. you are all so highbrow here. You would not consider going to see a movie that was just supposed to be a nice escape from your normal day to day amazing lives. Jeff has been against this movie from the get go. I bet David Poland will like it just so the two of them can tangle. That will be entertaining too!

comment #33

Ronald McFirbank says ...

I will happily see a movie that is supposed to be a nice escape.

I'd prefer it didn't take something that had its own virtues and throw them all away and replace them with numbnuts action cliches, though.

comment #34

Teacher's Pets says ...

No one is going to even mention in passing Rachel McAdams in lingerie? The only reason to watch the trailer, much less the movie? No straight men read this site anymore?

comment #35

chad_pole says ...

It's a remake of "Without a Clue"?

Could be fun.

comment #36

CrayonPie says ...

I found the Granada/Jeremy Brett 'Sherlock Holmes' perfectly realized faithful adaptations and are my favorite filmed versions of the stories. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce were pretty great too although I didnt like the WW2 updating of the series. That said, I think this version looks very fun and cool! I was prepared to not like it but now I can't wait to see it!

comment #37

Redmond says ...

When did Stanley Tucci change his name to Mark Strong?

comment #38

MilkMan says ...

I HATE GUY RITCHIE.
Another cop buddy movie.
Explosions! Explosions! Explosions!
Dude is a hack. He's Stephen Sommers with a taste for bespoke clothing and a slightly better record collection.

comment #39

Deathtongue_Groupie says ...

I resisted watching this for fear that despite that shitty supposed actual script passage Jeff posted a few weeks ago the trailer might make it look enticing.

My fear was unfounded.

Worse part was seeing that Rachel McAdams is in it. But I guess every actor has to learn the hard way when you agree to sign on for film strictly on the basis of who you will be acting with or directed by instead of a problematic script don't expect great things.

comment #40

Ronald McFirbank says ...

I'm really looking forward to a revisionist take on Holmes and Watson that wittily portrays Holmes as an antisocial decadent, subverts the buddy relationship of Holmes and Watson, and pits Holmes against a vast shadowy conspiracy and a clever, enticing woman.

In other words, I'm watching Wilder's The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes for the 5th or 6th time tonight.

comment #41

VoiceOfReason says ...

Am I the only one who had no idea Rachel McAdams was in this thing?

comment #42

mccool says ...

hawthorne ... if someone wants to make a total wank movie, fine, but as skip notes, why go the lowbrow route and corrupt material that has so much more promise?

So I guess we should all be looking forward to 'Preacher Man: The Legend of Martin Luther King Jr.,' directed by Adam McKay?

comment #43

YRG says ...

Wolverine and Star Trek both had moments when I heard the teens in the audience audibly gasp "Woah," after a moment of acrobatic grace or special effects. That is who these movies are made for. I agree, the beginning of this trailer could qualify as a parody.

comment #44

bmcintire says ...

It's a terrible trailer, but I won't (as yet) let it diminish or propel my enthusiasm for the film. Guy Ritchie is incredibly hit-or-miss (Rocknrolla VS. Revolver? Yikes!) but not even he would populate a soundtrack with all those synthetic stings and crashings. That cookie-cutter action bullshit neads to disappear from trailers immediately. My God, if you close your eyes, the first thirity seconds could easliy have been for TERMINATOR SALVATION, G.I. JOE, TRANSFORMERS 2 or FAST AND FURIOUS. Nondescript garbage.

comment #45

Hallick says ...

hawthorne, you don't know what you're talking about. If you want to go to a movie to have a good time and forget your everday troubles, that's cool. I do that too. Most of the movies I own are those movies.

But this is Sherlock Holmes.

Let me explain it this way:I love fast food like there's no tomorrow (or heart disease); but I don't go to a sushi bar and order a fucking cheeseburger. I don't plop myself down in a Mexican taqueria and ask for chicken fingers; and I wouldn't go to a French bistro looking for a McFlurry. Because even if those places offered that to me, it isn't what they're GREAT at.

So I don't want to go to a Sherlock Holmes movie and get a goddamn swashbuckler romp. Does that make me a snob? I want to see the great character that beats everybody in the room with his wits, not just his fists and physical comedy, because that's what Holmes IS GREAT AT. What the trailer represents is the type of movie that comes along every other fucking week. If this "Sherlock Holmes" wasn't another people-running-in-front-of-a-fireball action flick, your ability to find movies that don't make you think or feel anything downer'y for two hours wouldn't get a scratch.

comment #46

BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey says ...

I've read maybe one Conan-Doyle book in my life and I can't remember it, but a glance through this suggests that the kung-fu, martial arts and use of deadly weapons is all accurate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_Holmes

Also he's messy, which Jude Law addresses in the trailer too.

comment #47

Imogen says ...

All you silly little snobs with your silly little snobberies. If you had your way we would have no Gunga Din, The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Casablanca, North By Northwest, Zulu, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Man Who Would be King, Jaws, Star Wars, The Raiders of the Lost Ark or The Lord of the Rings. You are all entirely ridiculous.

comment #48

Ronald McFirbank says ...

Silly little Imogen,

WTF?

I'm stumped if I can figure out the common thread that links your movies. Literature that shouldn't be sent up? Not Butch Cassidy. Comic takes on adventure? Hardly applies to Sierra Madre or Zulu. Great characters being reinvented? Not Indiana Jones or Rick Blaine.

So what IS your point?

comment #49

DeeZee says ...

Kind of sad if Downey loses to a Chipmunks sequel...

Krazy: "I didn't see anything remotely "Matrix" style about the fight scenes -- just slow-motion."

I was thinkin' Fight Club-style myself.

Skip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O3UCqCng44&feature=channel_page

hawthorne: I'd like to be entertained, too, but let's face it: All we're getting is a British Michael Bay movie.

Pet: It's a PG-13 movie, so what's the point?

comment #50

MovieBob says ...

http://moviebob.blogspot.com/2009/05/sherlock-holmes-trailer.html

Look, Holmes is up there with Jesus and Dracula in terms of characters so "done to death" no reworking could be "radical" enough to kill them. Sherlock Holmes: Action Hero? Sure. Bring it on. Good or ill, it'll look good on the shelf next to Sherlock Holmes: Nazi Hunter, Sherlock Holmes: Hunter Thompson-Level Drug Fiend, Sherlock Holmes: Delusional Mental Patient and all the other crazy variants. I'm fine with the concept...

...but the TRAILER is ridiculous - it literally looks like an over-the-top SPOOF of what an action-oriented Holmes movie would look like. The Hamlet sketch from "Last Action Hero" literally looks more like a "straight" movie than this does. But.. whatever. What has ME worried is that there's no indication in here of any DETECTIVE work going on - hell, going ONLY by this trailer it looks like they seek Holmes help strictly because of his hand-to-hand combat skills. Not a good sign, albeit an early one.

comment #51

Gordon27 says ...

My favorite Sherlock Holmes Adventure is "The Adventure of the Kicked Bollocks", so I'm glad to see they're sticking faithfully to the canon.

comment #52

Gordon27 says ...

actually, as an afterthought, I should point out that the problem with this trailer is not that it's "unfaithful" to Doyle, per se... Pretty much every Holmes adaptation I have ever seen has been unfaithful to the spirit of Doyle, inasmuch as the original stories are much funnier and somewhat more whimsical than any of the dry, stuffy film adaptations. This one looks like it may have gone into the opposite direction, but that's the only thing that could possibly be interesting about the trailer. The problem with the trailer is that it's just boring.