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Sherlock Holmes – Robert Downey Jr’s Martial Arts Detective

July 27, 2009 | Author: Matthew | Filed under: Martial Arts, Movies, Opinion, Recent Events

Do you remember when “Batman Begins” came out? Christian Bale and Christopher Nolan took a fairly cheesy, misguided franchise and returned it to its gritty roots. They examined the darker side of the dark knight and investigated Bruce Wayne’s ninjutsu background. What resulted was an impressive, martial arts laden movie series that experienced great success.

We may be seeing something similar with Robert Downey Jr’s “Sherlock Holmes” (coming out this December).

Based off of the classic texts by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Downey Jr (Sherlock Holmes), Jude Law (Watson), Rachel McAdams (Irene Adler), and director Guy Ritchie are attempting to put a new spin on the franchise. Although the old movies, comic books, etc have been well received, Downey thinks that they are a bit unfaithful to the original character concepts and believes that this latest rendition faithfully captures both the intellect and physicality of Sherlock Holmes.

Check out this interview where Downey (after putting on a little bit of the ham-attitude that he likes to do), talks about the tougher martial arts aspects of his character:

As someone who has never read the books, I was surprised and elated to learn that Holmes had a combative background. Curious as to what exactly he studied, I ventured into Wikipedia for the answer:

“In ‘The Adventure of the Empty House’, Holmes recounts to Watson how he used martial arts to overcome Professor Moriarty and fling his adversary to his death at the Reichenbach Falls. He states that ‘I have some knowledge, however, of baritsu, or the Japanese system of wrestling, which has more than once been very useful to me.’ The name ‘baritsu’ appears to be a reference to the real-life martial art of bartitsu.” – wikipedia

Bartitsu is a historically established style created by Edward William Barton-Wright, who combined classic jujutsu, judo, savate, cane fighting, and western style boxing.

I wondered how this ‘new approach now integrated with martial arts’ might look, so I investigated a little further and found the official movie preview:

It comes quick, but you can definitely catch some hand-to-hand action and even a little Escrima stick fighting ala Rambo 3. Whether the Escrima has any textual precedence or not I don’t know. I think it can be assumed that they took liberties and hyped up the action for cinematic purposes.

The style and presentation of the movie definitely sets the stage for a grittier, more “real-world” Holmes. If done right, Guy Ritchie has the opportunity to create a remarkable mix of action and intrigue.

Personally, I’m excited for the movie. If they can learn the lessons of “Batman Begins”, use Downey’s natural humor and talent, and tell a compelling story, I think they could kick off an extremely successful franchise.

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This entry was posted on Monday, July 27th, 2009 and is filed under Martial Arts, Movies, Opinion, Recent Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

xygoxen
  • I love action movies - whether they're true to the original stories or not. I never quite saw Sherlock Holmes as an all action hero but why not? He seems to have all the right credentials. I'll definitely put this film on my 'to watch' list. When does it come out?
  • Bob
    We use the vertical fist in Kenpo too.

    This does look great on many fronts. I saw a headline yesterday. Thanks for saving me time. :)
  • http://justathoughtmmra.blogspot.com/2009/01/se...
    This article by Michele inspired me to write an article about early twentieth century Western self-defence (as based on Eastern methodologies):
    http://diaryofamartialartist.blogspot.com/2009/...
  • Great tidbits guys! You're all filling in some cool pieces of background that I didn't know.
  • FoxyCitrus
    I have a girlcrush on Rachel McAdams.

    I missed the point again, didn't I?
  • A little FYI: Basil Rathbone, who played Holmes in at least one movie was himself a master fencer.
  • cooliehawk
    There's also Robert Downey Jr's own background in Wing Chun.
    Did you notice the vertical fist at 1:08 in the trailer?
  • I didn't know that Robert Downey studied Wing Chun. Interesting.

    But the vertical fist isn't unique to Wing Chun. It actually appears in some European boxing schools and some Japanese atemi waza. Some classical jujitsu used it to soften the other guy up before taking him into a throw or lock.

    Since Holmes' bartistsu was inspired in part by jujitsu, it makes sense that it would appear in that art.
  • I did and it was pretty cool. Downey touched on his experience a little bit during the panel discussion at comic-con (that I saw via the internet), but didn't dive too deeply.
  • Matt
    I love the A. COnan Doyle stories and I cringe at the thought of this movie, martial arts or no.
  • For purists and true fans of the original books I am sure there is great trepidation at a new take like this one. I hope they do a good job for you, as I will surely be easier to impress than yourself.
  • I'm really looking forward to this movie, as well. Nice write up!
  • For what it's worth, the original stories mentioned that Holmes was an expert amateur boxer, fencer, and singlestick player, in addition to the "baritsu."
  • Ohh cool - the stickplayer thing could help explain the escrima.
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