Guy Ritchieisn’t aChristopher Nolan-level filmmaker who gets huge budgets to do whatever he wants, but he does consistently seem to get regular opportunities to dohis thing— which, at the risk of being reductive, is making crime movies and action/adventure movies. He works with different tones (Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerreis silly,Wrath of Manis serious), he works with different stars (Jason Stathamis in both of those, butFountain of YouthhasJohn KrasinskiandNatalie Portman), but there’s not really any rhyme or reason to whatreallyworks for his audience. So, to get back on track, Ritchie should go back to one of his most fruitful franchises and make anotherSherlock Holmesmovie.
Ritchie’s vaguely steampunk-inspiredSherlock Holmesfrom 2009and its 2011 sequel both made over $500 million, they’re both sitting at overall positive ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, andSherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadowsis currently lighting up the streaming charts. Only Ritchie’s live-actionAladdinmovie made more money, but it lacks the reasonably warm reception that theHolmesmovies got, and nobody needs Ritchie to make a live-action version of thehated sequel,TheReturn of Jafar. Indeed,RocketmandirectorDexter Fletcherwas supposed to makeSherlock Holmes 3years ago, but he’s never been able to get it off the ground.
Why Is It Time for Guy Ritchie To Make Sherlock Holmes 3?
The biggest and most obvious reason to make anotherSherlock Holmesmovie is that the first two starredRobert Downey Jr.as Sherlock, and he’s going on a two-decade hot streak with no signs of slowing down (the big pitch forAvengers: Doomsdayis that he’s coming back to the MCU). Plus,Jude Lawplayed Doctor Watson in the original movies, and he’s coming off of some great work inStar Wars: Skeleton Crew, where he played against type as a smarmy, child-hating creep. It would be nice to see Law play a charming guy again, even if his Watson’s main move is quietly smiling at Sherlock while he does something wacky.
A newSherlock Holmeswould also give Ritchie a chance to play around a little with the mythology, sinceA Game of Shadowsalready did Professor Moriarty and Sherlock faking his death—the two oldArthur Conan Doylestory beats that every Sherlock Holmes adaptation has to do at some point (BBC’sSherlockdid them in 2012, a year afterA Game Of Shadows). Plus, Downey and Law were already playing younger versions of the characters than you traditionally see in these adaptations (outside ofSherlock), so they would never really age out of playing Holmes and Watson. MaybeStatham could come in and play a Bane-like villain,made famous fromThe Dark Knight Rises,who is both super-smart and super-strong, beating Downey’s Sherlock at his own game. Who wouldn’t want to see that?
Sherlock Holmes
