Elementary my dear Watson

Recently saw the Sherlock Holmes movie with RDJ in the lead role. Like Johnny Depp even Robert Downey Jr. has managed to get into the A list pretty late in his acting career. Loved him in Ironman, he wears the role of Tony Stark like he was meant for it. But this post is not about that its about Holmes.

I have read the entire collection from Arthur Conan Doyle very early on, almost like 12 years back in 1998. I went back and reread some of the stuff again and its still just as golden as it was before. Now Holmes is set in Victorian London, much before the on set of the WW's and just after the 1857 mutiny. Crime was much more difficult to detect back then unlike now due to advances in forensic science (CSI). This makes him seem all the more heroic due to his eccentricities but ultimately its just a primitive form of forensic science.

However even today he would do very well. A lot of cases that Holmes gets aren't really deemed national security or worth some extremely large sum of monies (exceptions being the Red headed league, Hound of the Baskervilles, Sign of Four, the Naval treaty among some of them.) Thus there are still those outlier studies which most agencies wouldn't fret over like infidelity, recovering objects of certain sentimental value/societal value, revenge(Valley of Fear, Devil's Foot, Speckled Band, Copper Beeches, Study in Scarlet) etc. These are still cases which are present very much in society and would serve very well to highlight Holmes' powers.

Sooner or later we'll end up with Holmes' being set in the 21st century, now that would be interesting to see when Lestrade, McDonald, Gregson and co. have all failed even with the best of forensics at their disposal. Maybe something like Sacred Games would be where Holmes' prowess would shine. Guess we'll just have to wait and see if Hollywood or even Bollywood for that matter come up with something now.