Sherlock (2010). I’ve been meaning to write a blog post on this crime series made for BBC for a while now, but kept putting it off. I picked up the Blu-ray set for this 3 episode series several months ago through online word-of-mouth praising the series for its modernistic interpretation of the famous detective. And several nights of watching the series later, I haven’t been disappointed.
In a nutshell; the short series is a contemporary 21st century update of Sherlock Holmes. A sort of visual re-imagination of what Holmes would be like if he’d lived in London’s Baker Street in the year 2010 instead of 1887. Yep; in the world of the Internet, blogging, Google, laptops, digital forensics, and of course – text messaging.
As corny as the series’ theme might sound at the onset, the overall package’s works extremely well. The series adapts from the original source novels by Arthur Conan Doyle, and benefits from two leads that have given refreshing versions of the two classic lead characters Holmes and Watson. The script is smart, dialog very fun (especially Holmes’ juxtaposition between brilliance and impatience against everyone else around him versus Watson’s resignation towards his partner’s perpetual arrogance), and stories move briskly.
Best of all though are the two leads – Benedict Cumberbatch (Holmes) and Martin Freeman (Watson) . I don’t follow British TV very much, and while I recognize Freeman from other productions, Cumberbatch is new to me. And what an absolutely amazing Holmes he is! The detective is both charismatic yet extremely dangerous – and looked in one way, possibly mentally unsound even. He thrives on danger, takes crazy risks only because his curiosity demands it, enjoys the adrenaline rush with no regard to his own well-being, and socially inept only because he believes everyone else is beneath him. But yet, he never loses his focus while on the chase and investigative trail.
His foil, Freeman’s Watson, on the other hand has his own mind but underplays his own presence, and letting Holmes take the limelight. The two’s banter is engaging, and often just hilarious; especially one subplot when he tries to date and get on with a fellow worker at a clinic and Holmes having absolutely no regard nor time for his romantic intentions.
One thing I also especially appreciate in this series, and in stark contrast to Guy Ritchie’s also critically acclaimed and recent Sherlock Holmes films, is that the Holmes for all his brilliant intellect is average only in physicality. We saw Robert Downey Jr’s Holmes karate-chop his way through opponents. The Holmes here however has no such martial ability. In fact, in the (thankfully very few) fight scenes, he’s easily pulverized and nearly beaten into pulp each time.
The series comprises just three episodes, each one running for 90 minutes. The Blu-ray set can be had for an absolute bargain now (just SGD16 on Amazon UK!), and – alongside Generation Kill (to be blogged later) – has raced to the top of TV series I’ve seen so far this year. Ling loves the series too, and she’s watched each episode several times now even – a very rare thing for her. =)
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