So far Ryan Scott from MovieWeb and several others don’t have much to go on except for the fact that Sherlock Holmes 3 is coming and it will be directed by Dexter Fletcher instead of Guy Ritchie, who’s a little too busy at the moment to take up the director’s chair once again. But apart from that the only other piece of news is that it’s expected to hit theaters in 2021, during which time we’ll get to see the famed duo once again, though without a plot we’ll have to guess at what’s coming for a while. Anyone who watched Game of Shadows though likely has a few questions, not to mention a headache from trying to sort out just how Holmes managed to survive a fall from such a height without anything below to cushion his fall.
It’s happening, that much is obvious and we’re going to have to get used to it because, wait for it…..dah dah dah-dah, MOVIE MAGIC! Yeah, that’s about what it is because in real life the likelihood that he survived would be next to nil even if he would have his extra supply of oxygen at the end of the plunge. Add onto that the fact that a body falling that far at that velocity wouldn’t just hit the water like a pancake, he’d hit hard enough that the water would feel like a slab of concrete, no matter how you angle your body. In short, a body hitting the water from that height with that amount of force is going to be so much broken and pounded meat by the time it starts to sink. But hey, this is where creative license came in because so many fans were outraged that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had the NERVE to kill off his most major and beloved character. Really, how dare he. If you’re reading that in a sarcastic voice then good for you because if fans lose sight of anything when they’re hooked on something it’s the ‘kill your darlings’ method that many authors have come to employ throughout the years.
Some writers either never plan to part ways with their creations or simply can’t bear it and thus they continue to write about them long after the story has gone stale. Others realize that all good things must come to an end and will finally bite the bullet so to speak and devise a way that, to them, is fitting for their best character to go out. And really, what better way was there for Holmes to go out than in bit of mutual destruction that included the downfall of his nemesis, Moriarty? that seemed like a fitting death and gave him a glorious moment of sacrifice that left Watson to his own life and rid the world of a very dangerous criminal. But no, sigh, fans couldn’t handle it and simply wouldn’t leave Doyle alone, so here we are. Can anyone imagine what life might be like at this point if the inexplicable and very eye-rolling return of Sherlock Holmes after somehow defying death had never occurred? As a writer I know I can, but I’ll save my opinion for this moment in favor of stating that even some of the fans who wanted him back scoffed at this and turned up their nose, proving that no matter what you do as a writer there are going to be fans that will never be pleased.
As far as the movie goes it’s going to be quite interesting to see how they spin this since not only did Holmes not have the personal oxygen supply that would have saved him should he only be knocked unconscious at the end of his fall, but once again, there’s the whole gravity plus force plus surface tension of the water (which may or may not matter depending on whose opinion you take) equaling out to a very messy and painful death, or at the very least a severely incapacitated Holmes, who would drown in short order since it’s hard to swim with broken limbs, ribs, and anything else that decided to shatter upon impact. As much as I’d like to stay positive and say that it will be intriguing to see how this goes, there’s still the whole realistic aspect that’s missing thanks to the fans of Doyle that so long ago continued to pressure him into writing his detective back into the scene. There are even those to this day that would gladly tell me to just be quiet about it but as a storyteller and a novelist who does enjoy writing some realism into a story now and again it behooves me to say “no”.
The movie might be interesting since RDJ and Jude Law are a good pair, but the explanation of how Holmes survived is going to have to be top notch.
Follow Us
