Why is Sherlock So Jacked in 'Enola Holmes'?
One of the most popular movies in the world right now is Netflix's Enola Holmes, starring Millie Bobby Brown as the world's greatest detective's younger sister and Henry Cavill as -- good lord, is that supposed to be Sherlock Holmes? Did he trade his violin for a sack of ye olde creatine powder? Dude's supposed to be into cocaine and morphine, not protein shakes and powerlifting.
Perhaps it's not surprising that casting the guy most famous for playing Superman and cocking his arms like guns gave us an uncharacteristically swole Sherlock, who spends most of the movie looking like he's going to burst out of his suit like The Incredible Hulk after a second helping of Thanksgiving dinner. So does this make any sense at all given what we know about Sherlock Holmes? After all, in the Robert Downey Jr. movie, a shirtless Holmes went full Tyler Durden in an underground boxing ring.
But in the original stories, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle writes that "few men were capable of greater muscular effort" than Holmes. But while he's good at randomly punching nogoodniks in the face from time to time, he also remarks that he gets "so little active exercise that it is always a treat" and Watson claims that Holmes "seldom took exercise for exercise's sake."
So while it makes sense to portray Holmes as somewhat of a badass, having him be so goddamn jacked is less in keeping with the original texts. There aren't any stories where he hits the gym or challenges Professor Moriarty to a chessboxing match. So if they make a sequel, please, for the love of god, consider CGI-ing Cavill's face on, say, the body of David Hyde Pierce. And maybe make him a cold-hearted emotional zombie to avoid any future legal entanglements.
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Top Image: Netflix