[blaise]

Originally Posted by JD10367

I think you'll enjoy it if you know what you're getting into. The piece is set in a very gritty, realistic version of the era. Think "Gangs Of New York". The character of Holmes is played, like the books, as being brilliant and light-years ahead of most people in way of thinking--but, in a modern twist, they give the character the sort of narcissistic egocentricity and ADD of someone in the modern era (i.e., if someone today were that smart, and not raised ideally socially, how their personalities might've come out a little on the abrasive and sociopathic side). The Holmes of this film is always pushing the envelope--mentally, physically, and mind-alteringly--seeking new challenges and new boundaries to test and see if he fails at (since, through his life, he pretty much doesn't fail at anything aside from relationships). Going back to the "House" analogy, Holmes is very similar to Greg House in these terms (brilliant, self-centered, socially abrasive and inept, addictive personality, lives for the brief moments of feeling new and different and on-the-edge).

If you're expecting the stereotypical deerstalker hat and pipe and "Ah ha!" kind of thing, then you won't find it enjoyable.

Almost all the things you describe there are really the same traits dislplayed in the BBC productions: he's narcississtic and egocentric, he sought new challenges. In fact, they show him so bored with what life has to offer he resorts to using drugs to liven up his day. There's more than one where Watson comes in to find Holmes shutting a desk door on a syringe or bottle and asks him, "What is it this time?" Holmes will reply with something like, "A half a gram of cocaine." He comes across as socially abrasive. He's aloof and dismissive to most people he meets. Usually when people come to him with a case he speaks to Watson as if the person isn't even there, and only decides to take the case if there's some unusual aspect to it.