Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes offered yet another version of the famous detective, and like many others, it took some creative liberties not only with the characters but with the story as well. Created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes first appeared in A Study in Scarlet, published in 1887, and became very popular thanks to a series of short stories published in The Strand Magazine, beginning in 1891 with “A Scandal in Bohemia”. In total, there are four novels and 56 short stories telling a variety of cases solved by the Great Detective and his friend Dr. John Watson.

Sherlock Holmes became so popular (and continues to be) that he has been adapted to all types of media for over one hundred years. Times change and Sherlock and Watson have been adapted to more modern settings in recent years, such as BBC’s Sherlock and the series Elementary, but others have chosen to stay true to the original setting of the stories. Such is the case of Guy Ritchie’s 2009 film, simply titled Sherlock Holmes, with Robert Downey Jr. as the title character and Jude Law as John Watson.

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Although the film is based on characters created by Conan Doyle (except one, but more on that later), it’s not an adaptation of any case or book from Sherlock Holmes’ universe. However, that doesn’t mean that there are no differences in how the characters were translated to the big screen, and here are the ones you will find.

Sherlock Holmes

Robert Downey Jr from Sherlock Holmes

The Great Detective has been adapted to television, stage, books, comic books, film and more, and each of them has a different perception of who Sherlock Holmes is, even if some try to stay as true to what Conan Doyle created as possible. While Robert Downey Jr’s performance was praised by critics and audiences, his version of Sherlock Holmes is different from the one in the books. Aside from the physical differences, Sherlock Holmes is described as an eccentric man, and while he was well dressed most of the time, he had a tendency to be quite messy at home. The film, however, showed him as an untidy man even when not home.

Sherlock is dispassionate and cold, yet respectful and calm – Downey Jr’s version is impulsive and at times aggressive (though he does know how to fight in both the books and film), as well as impatient as he often blurts out stuff as it comes to his mind. His behavior towards characters like Inspector Lestrade and especially Mary Morstan are completely different in the film: in the books, although he’s not a fan of Lestrade’s work and finds him to be quite incompetent, their relationship is respectful but not without a snarky comment here and there. As for Mary, it’s actually Sherlock who introduces her to Watson though not in a romantic context. Mary approaches the detective to help her solve a mystery involving her father, so he already knew her before she married Watson. While Sherlock was hurt when Watson left, he never tried to sabotage their relationship nor was he rude to her, and Watson continued working with him after his marriage.

John Watson

Sherlock Holmes Jude Law John Watson

Of all characters taken from Conan Doyle’s stories, John Watson is the one with fewer differences. Unlike Sherlock, there’s no detailed and consistent description of Watson’s physical appearance (after all, he’s the one telling the stories), only that he has a mustache. Watson is intelligent and learns Sherlock’s deduction methods, though he’s not always successful when putting them into practice as he lacks Sherlock’s insight and capability of thinking outside the box (as the Great Detective said, he sees but doesn’t observe). Dealing with Sherlock Holmes is not an easy task, and Watson obviously loses his patience a couple of times, but he’s never physically aggressive to Holmes, only “answering bitterly”, as described by him.

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As mentioned above, Watson continued working with Sherlock even after he married Mary, and she never opposed to that as she knew Sherlock quite well and was aware of the relationship between them.

Irene Adler

Contrary to Watson, the character that goes through all types of changes and versions is Irene Adler, but there’s a good reason for that. Adler made her debut in “A Scandal in Bohemia”, and is described as a former opera singer from New Jersey who became the lover of the King of Bohemia. When the King intended to marry Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meiningen years after his relationship with Adler was over, he asked Holmes to retrieve a photograph of Adler and him together, as it would threaten his marriage. Holmes traced Adler’s movements and learned all he could about her, including her marriage to English lawyer Godfrey Norton. Although Sherlock managed to trick her into telling him where the picture was hidden, she quickly realized it was a set up, and then confirmed her theory that the man was, in fact, a disguised Sherlock Holmes. The following day, Holmes, Watson, and the King arrived at her home to demand the return of the photograph, only to discover that Adler was gone, along with her husband and the photo. However, she left a photo of her and a letter to Holmes, in which she explained that she outwitted him, was happy with her new husband, and wouldn’t compromise the King as she only kept the photo to protect herself.

That’s the first and only time Irene Adler appears in a Sherlock Holmes story, but she had a big impact not only on Sherlock’s life but also on the audience, as she’s the only woman who has outwitted the Great Detective, to the point where she’s referred to by Sherlock as “the woman”. Adler has since been used as romantic interest for Sherlock in various adaptations, including Ritchie’s film, even though Conan Doyle intended it to be a platonic admiration rather than sexual attraction. It’s understandable that various writers have taken the liberty of expanding and adding to Adler’s story, but it’s important to keep in mind that she didn’t have any links to Professor Moriarty and that Sherlock wasn’t attracted to her in a romantic way.

Lord Blackwood

Sherlock Holmes Lord Blackwood

Sherlock Holmes gained a couple of enemies over the years, most notably Professor Moriarty, but the film’s villain Lord Blackwood isn’t taken from any of Conan Doyle’s stories. Blackwood, just like Sherlock Holmes’ plot, is an original creation, though he does take inspiration from occultist leader Aleister Crowley. His interest in spiritualism might have been inspired by Conan Doyle’s own interest in the subject, and his supposed supernatural abilities and tricks are a nod to the story The Hound of the Baskervilles. Although Blackwood was intelligent and at some point seemed to have defeated the one and only Sherlock Holmes, the detective eventually figured all his tricks out, and Blackwood was exposed as what he was: a fraud.

Sherlock Holmes was praised for its performances, story, and action sequences, making way for a sequel (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows), and it’s an exciting and entertaining adaptation of the Great Detective, even if not a completely accurate one – then again, that might be exactly where the fun lies.

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