History YMMV / SherlockHolmes

''"The man had hereditary tendencies of the most diabolical kind. A criminal strain ran in his blood, which, instead of being modified, was increased and rendered infinitely more dangerous by his extraordinary mental powers. Dark rumours gathered round him in the University town, and eventually he was compelled to resign his chair and come down to London. He is the Napoleon of Crime, Watson, the organiser of half that is evil and nearly all that is undetected in this great city."''

** In the sequel, Professor Moriarty arguably manages to be even worse. He's a criminal mastermind, completely devoid of empathy, with an elaborate scheme of an even grander scale than Blackwood's - and he has a personal grudge against Holmes himself. [[spoiler: If the scene where he reveals that he murdered Irene Adler when [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness she had stopped being useful]] doesn't do for a MoralEventHorizon, his interrogation of Holmes where he has him [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel impaled on a hook and suspended off the floor, screaming in agony, probably will]].]] [[WickedCultured He does it while singing along to a beautiful piece by Shubert, too.]]

* CompleteMonster: Lord Blackwood. During the movie it's revealed he has killed 5 girls for his rituals. He also leaves nothing but dead bodies behind him (which usually have been killed in the most horrifying way).

* TaintedByThePreview: There was much wailing and rending of garments on the news that RobertDowneyJr. and Jude Law had been cast as the leads in, and Guy Ritchie was to direct, a ''Film/SherlockHolmes'' movie. Holmesians all around the world were [[AdaptationDecay wary]], mainly because Downey Jr didn't look like Holmes as he was described and illustrated in the books at all, but some maintained a let's wait and see attitude. Furthermore, Guy Ritchie's previous films, style and recent lack of notable success inspired worry. Then the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUQbmFAE5WI trailer]] came out, that made Holmes seem more like if {{House}} and Film/IronMan had a baby in Victorian times than the real SherlockHolmes and everyone ''but'' the fans were happy. Some gave up [[InkStainAdaptation and feared the worst]] and some preferred to [[NeverTrustATrailer Wait and See]]. [[BrokenBase Heated Arguments arouse]] and every new clip and trailer served to make the matters worse, but some minds were changed. Then the movie came out, [[YourMileageMayVary and while opinions on how good of a story it was differ]], most agree that RobertDowneyJr and Jude Law did a great job as Holmes and Watson while others put them amongst the most beloved like Brett and David Burke/Edward Hardwicke. One thing to note though is that very few and maybe no Holmesians claimed that it was RuinedForever since the 123 year old Fandom has seen worse, a lot worse, this decade alone (see: ''Case of Evil'').

->''"The man had hereditary tendencies of the most diabolical kind. A criminal strain ran in his blood, which, instead of being modified, was increased and rendered infinitely more dangerous by his extraordinary mental powers. Dark rumours gathered round him in the University town, and eventually he was compelled to resign his chair and come down to London. He is the Napoleon of Crime, Watson, the organiser of half that is evil and nearly all that is undetected in this great city."''

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Oh, ''dear God!''

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Oh, ''[[{{Understatement}} dear God!]]''

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Oh, ''[[{{Understatement}} dear God!]]''

* WTHCastingAgency: At first, people are skeptical about choosing [[RobertDowneyJr the guy]] who played Charlie Chaplin, [[Film/IronMan Tony "Iron Man" Stark]] and [[TropicThunder Kirk "a dude playin' a dude, disguised as another dude" Lazarus]] as Holmes. Being the skilled actor he is, he ''nailed'' it.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Irene Adler, who only appeared in one story of the original tales, but is popular among those who wrote Holmes-based novels, TV and movies, especially for a [[PromotedToLoveInterest Promotion To Love Interest]].\\

* FollowTheLeader: The film has set in motion a wave of films based on public domain classics, including ''TreasureIsland'', ''TheThreeMusketeers'', ''{{Moby-Dick}}'', ''TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'', Marco Polo, ''TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'', KingArthur, and many others. It remains to be seen how the trend will play out if none of them makes any money.

* AdaptationDecay: Holmes' and Watson's relationship more closely resembles [[{{House}} House and Wilson]] than their steadfast friendship in the ArthurConanDoyle stories. At least Jude Law's Watson is less demeaning to Watson's intelligence than the bumbler he was in the Rathbone films but Holmes' character flaws were somewhat exaggerated, particularly his apparent dependency on Watson, his cocaine use was changed to a number of unnamed drugs to maintain the PG-13 rating and it was implied that he was using while on a case when it was stated that he only used when ''not'' in a case (the challenge of a case being his drug of choice).
** Watson met Mary Morstan when she was a client of Holmes', however in the movie she and Holmes meet for the first time. So the ''Sign of Four'' apparently never took place, but the movie never tells us how Watson and Mary met.
** Lestrade was a lot more respectful (though sometimes condescending) towards Holmes, and Holmes openly claimed that he was the Best Inspector in Scotland Yard, so all those "How did you ever get to be an Inspector?" jokes would seem out of place. That said, to be fair, there is evidence that suggest that this Lestrade is an CompositeCharacter of Lestrade and the lesser known Althelney Jones from ''The Sign of Four''. Film Lestrade seems to trust Holmes enough to asks him for help in his investigations, and even go along with his plans like Book Lestrade towards Holmes, but his vitriolic interactions with Holmes and claiming that investigating crimes was Holmes' hobby (demeaning all the years Holmes has dedicated to the study of crime and all the work he has done) while being incompetent enough for one to ask how he ever got to be an Inspector is a lot like Jones.
*** It may also be worth noting that while they grow more respectful later, Holmes and Lestrade have a very antagonistic relationship in the early stories -- Lestrade does not trust what he sees as Holmes' wild theorizing, no matter how often he is right, and Holmes hits him with a few zingers, though not quite as overtly as in the movie.
** Irene Adler who went from a GuileHero (or AntiVillain) to a ClassyCatBurglar and the UnresolvedSexualTension between her and Holmes was outright stated instead of implied as an AlternativeCharacterInterpretation.
** Similarly, Irene Adler only met Holmes during ''A Scandal in Bohemia'' where she bested him and the only reason it was not a total loss was that Adler was truly in love with her new husband, and so chose not to expose the King of Bohemia's affair with her because it would have damaged her just as much. In the movie however, this is not the only time Adler and Holmes have met and Adler frequently marries and divorces husbands (divorce being a scandalous and shameful thing back then) in order to resell the wedding diamonds and described her latest ex-husband as "boring, jealous, and he snored".

** As to the "Few and maybe no Holmesians claimed that it was RuinedForever" bit--[[LeyomiTheParodier This Troper]] has run across several people, at least considering themselves Holmesians, who expressed a ''very'' strong dislike for it. But they probably make up a very small percentage of the fans--the number of almost-fanatical supporters (to the degree of idiocy and misrepresentation of fact) I've run into--and fans like that are a rarity in this fandom--is two or three times the number of extreme haters that I've run into.
* TheScrappy: Irene Adler, despite it being shoved down our throat that she's some kind of femme fatalle, the movie shows that she's more of a damsel in distress that constantly needs saving and she's just as much to blame for Moriarty getting the device if not MORE so. This troper was personally thrilled that they cut most of her scenes out due to the Romantic Plot Tumor.
* TheUntwist: The identity of Irene Adler's employer ([[spoiler:Professor Moriarty]]) is this to a lot of people. Given that we are actually told early on that he's a professor, it's possible that the director intended it as a [[GeniusBonus Fan Bonus]] so that it would be obvious only to fans. YMMW on whether this succeeded, since most people with any knowledge of SherlockHolmes are likely to have heard of the character.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome ''Rocky Road to Dublin'' played by ''The Dubliners''.

* TheWoobie

* AmbiguouslyAutistic: Many have speculated this about Sherlock Holmes

* MainstreamObscurity: Not many people have read the novels themselves. However, everyone has a general idea who Sherlock is.
* ReverseShazam: Most of the novels did not have Sherlock Holmes in the title.

* TaintedByThePreview: There was much wailing and rending of garments on the news that RobertDowneyJr. and Jude Law had been cast as the leads in, and Guy Ritchie was to direct, a ''Film/SherlockHolmes'' movie. Holmesians all around the world were [[AdaptationDecay wary]], mainly because Downey Jr didn't look like Holmes as he was described and illustrated in the books at all, but some maintained a let's wait and see attitude. Furthermore, Guy Ritchie's previous films, style and recent lack of notable success inspired worry. Then the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUQbmFAE5WI trailer]] came out, that made Holmes seem more like if {{House}} and Film/IronMan had a baby in Victorian times than the real SherlockHolmes and everyone ''but'' the fans were happy. Some gave up [[InkStainAdaptation and feared the worst]] and some preferred to [[NeverTrustATrailer Wait and See]]. [[BrokenBase Heated Arguments arouse]] and every new clip and trailer served to make the matters worse, but some minds were changed. Then the movie came out, [[YourMileageMayVary and while opinions on how good of a story it was differ]], most agree that RobertDowneyJr and Jude Law did a great job as Holmes and Watson while others put them amongst the most beloved like Brett and David Burke/Edward Hardwicke. One thing to note though is that very few and maybe no Holmesians claimed that it was RuinedForever since the 123 year old Fandom has seen worse, a lot worse, this decade alone (see: ''Case of Evil''... or [[SoBadItsHorrible better yet don't]]).

** Similarly, Irene Adler only met Holmes during ''A Scandal in Bohemia'' where she bested him and the only reason it was not a total loss was that Adler was truly in love with her new husband, and so chose not to expose the King of Bohemia's affair with her because it would have damaged her just as much. In the movie however, this is not the only time Adler and Holmes have met and Adler frequently marries and divorces husbands (divorce being a scandalous and shameful thing back then) in order to resell the wedding diamonds and described her latest ex-husband as "boring, jealous, and he snored".

* AdaptationDecay: Better in this respect than many previous adaptations, but definitely there with reference to the original stories.
** Holmes' and Watson's relationship more closely resembles [[{{House}} House and Wilson]] than their steadfast friendship in the ArthurConanDoyle stories. At least Jude Law's Watson is less demeaning to Watson's intelligence than the bumbler he was in the Rathbone films but Holmes' character flaws were somewhat exaggerated, particularly his apparent dependency on Watson, his cocaine use was changed to a number of unnamed drugs to maintain the PG-13 rating and it was implied that he was using while on a case when it was stated that he only used when ''not'' in a case (the challenge of a case being his drug of choice).