Character

You may notice I pay all my attention to the characters and did not quite touch on the story.

But Guy Ritchie was right. To a genuine fan, story is always a less important consideration than the character of Holmes and Watson.

Maybe the comment of Hercule Poirot (in The Clocks) could best expresses my view.

******************************

"The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," (Poirot) murmured lovingly, and even uttered reverently the one word, "Maître !"

"Sherlock Holmes ?" I asked.

"Ah, non, non, not Sherlock Holmes ! It is the author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, that I salute. These tales of Sherlock Holmes are in reality far-fetched, full of fallacies and most artificially contrived. But the art of the writing - ah, that is entirely different. The pleasure of the language, the creation above all of that magnificent character, Dr Watson. Ah, that was indeed a triumph."

PS. In terms of complexity - and scientific accuracy - of a story, Ellery Queen, especially when disguised as Barnaby Ross, is way better. But the New Yorker could never overtake the position of his predecessor in London. To say the least, despite carefully conceived, I have very little recollection of Drury Lane as a person - not to say Queen himself.