Jeremy Brett is the best Sherlock Holmes. I can watch the episodes many times over. Agree that Benedict's best performance is as Christopher Tietjens in "Parade's End" along with a brilliant cast. I have read St. Aubyn's novels and think this will be a great series.
4
The notion that one can “cross off” Hamlet, or any other Shakespearean leading role from one’s list, because one has played the part, is an absurdity that I hope has more to do with the thinking of whomever writes the titles of the Times’ articles, than Mr. Cumberbatch’s actual attitude. The great actors of the 19th century played those parts repeatedly, for decades, and never ceased to continue to grow in them. No finer example of this exists than the Journal of William Charles Macready, which, not surprisingly, has been long out of print. Olivier, Gielgud, Richardson, often returned to the roles they had played before. This is the definition of a dedicated actor. As Sandy Meisner observed, today’s actors have it very easy - because so little is asked of them.
8
My Irish DNA recoils at the mention of abuse, addiction and the cruelty of British snobbery. This is part of the emotional legacy of the British Empire. No wonder we're all so gaga over those two most thoughtful, kind and inclusive royal offspring Will and Harry.
4
I raised my eyebrows in horror to read that the writer dismissively believes that Agent Smith in The Matrix is the role for which Hugo Weaving is "best known". He is a wonderfully accomplished Australian actor with an incredibly broad and varied international career behind him (Priscilla Queen of the Desert anyone?)and continues to astonish with every the role he takes on.
22
Hugo Weaving is definitely one of my favorites! He makes anything he's in unforgettable.
2
Absolutely right, Janine. But then the article says that B.C. is best know for the execrable Sherlock series. Maybe he is, but to see him at the top of his game one would have to watch him as Christopher Tietjens in the brilliant Parade's End.
8
Preach! He was in V for Vendetta and so amazing! A real talent!
1
I have two thoughts:
(1) About Sherlock Holmes. He is portrayed--almost INVARIABLY!--as a klutz. A man without compassion or empathy. A man who can hardly relate to other human beings. A thinking machine. Nothing more.
In one of Mr. Cumberbatch's renditions, Holmes is seen addressing a bunch of reporters. He has to be prompted--PROMPTED!--by that faithful sidekick. Otherwise, groping for words, he would lapse into an stony silence.
READ THE STORIES, GUYS!
Nothing could be further from the truth. I just finished rereading (for the zillionth time) the Boscombe Valley adventure. Unerringly, the great detective fingers the real culprit--and invites him over to his room at the inn.
The man (after years of torment) had struck down a blackmailer. Holmes treats the old man with incomparable gentleness and sympathy--does NOT hand him over to the police--and is shown at the close musing aloud:
"There but for the grace of God goes Sherlock Holmes!"
(2) Petty thought coming up.
How on EARTH does Mr. Cumberbatch--or anyone else--know that Hamlet's father was "cold--distant--unloving"?
The play tells us he lived--he died. Hamlet (in that famous scene with his mother) sees in his face "a front like Jove's to threaten and command." Well DUH! The man's a king.
Otherwise. .. I'm sorry! I just don't see it. Oh--by the way. .
. ..Mr Cumberbatch!
You're a wonderful actor.
Thanks, guy!
6
You're right about Sherlock. Watson is so wrong about things because he applies the kind of rigid prejudicial racist and classist Empire way of thinking that got the Empire into not one but three wars in Afghanistan, where Watson was wounded.
Sherlock on the other hand sees into the internal lives of people and takes them seriously, no matter what their station in life may be. In "The Blue Carbuncle," his most amazing feat of seduction is powered by his deep understanding of the particular physical traces left behind by a man suffering a severe decline in status and finances.
His reasoning is razor-sharp, but he'd have nothing to slice apart if it weren't for his genius at empathy, at being able to imagine accurately and in great detail the lives of those both above and below his station.
His impatience is not sociopathic or autistic or anything like that. His impatience is with the needless cruelty and folly of his times.
7
The only other actor matching BC's brilliance is Ralph Fiennes. The top 2 actors of today.
9
watch patrick stewart playing a bit of macbeth in "Logan".
Fiennes could be there soon, if he develops a bit more playfulness. BC in a few years..
2
Mark Rylance!!!!!
9
"Benedict Cumberbatch plays another messed-up rich kid with daddy issues."
Better clean this up NYT.
7
On a British talk show (Graham Norton), Mr. Cumberbatch visibly bristled and talked of his dislike of the term, Cumberbitches, as it is both vulgar and a put-down. The NYT might rethink its use of the term, especially in an article so focused on the actor himself (vs. the small subgroup of self-named fans).
23
Daddy issues? I think it was rape. Better check your NYT PC Handbook before you confuse rape with daddy issues. Can't believe Dean Baquet signed off on this. Surprised an alarm didn't go off over there at the headquarters.
18
Well, I'll be tuning in. The trailers currently playing are delightful in displaying Mr. Cumberbatch's comic timing.
3
And there's that other eccentric detective, Peter Wimsey, who is due for a revival, and might be a spiffing addition to the Cumberbatch CV.
13
He would also be great in a fatsuit as Nero Wolfe.
4
A most talented actor and the best Sherlock Holmes of all time. I would watch any performance he undertakes.
24
Mr. Cumberbatch is One of the best. Jeremy Brett's version was highly compelling and realistic for the time. And they at least let you see his addiction, from time to time.
15
Jeremy Brett IS Sherlock. He was never out of control, deranged, a cartoon, like Cumberbatch. For anyone who has read The Canon, there is no question as to who plays the character named Sherlock Holmes, and who plays a cartoon comic-book version of some demonic descendent of Holmes. Mr. Cumberbatch does many things well, but his Holmes is a dreadful botch, and never true to form.
3
I would encourage people to read the Patrick Melrose series. Knowing that they are autobiographical will break your heart, but the writing is immensely satisfying. The conflict of reading Nabakov's Lolita comes to mind.
18
Daddy issues?! Really? Melrose was repeatedly raped by his father. So I really don't understand that reference here.
31
This makes me think that the NYT PC Sensitivity Bureau doesn't lift an eyebrow when discussing white boys, especially English white boys. Are there two sets of rules over there at the Grey Lady?
11
100% right Eve.
7
The manic cult of Cumberbatch continues. He has done some things that I enjoyed - he was very good in the PBS reworking of the Henry VI plays. However, Sherlock is a pretentious, tendentious blasphemy. It substitutes blather for plot, posing for character development, and totally misses the fundamental character of Holmes. The Watson is OK. But Cumberbatch is Clumsybotch in that series.
12
"tendentious"? Example(s), please.
4
We saw Cumberbatch in Hamlet when we went to London in 2015, mostly as a tribute to my daughter, who loves him. I just posted this article so that she'll see it. I have a feeling we will be recording this series for her.
1
Mr. Cumberbatch is the best actor working today. There is not a close second. He has an amazing range and has very few peers. The only one I can think of that approaches him is Kenneth Branagh, who, similarly, is creative, inventive and takes risks that pay off due to hard work and hard work and hard work. Oldman and DiCaprio and Di Niro are no slouches with Oldman's far ahead, today, of the other two, but if I were casting ANY role I'd go to Cumberbatch and Branagh first.
18
I certainly agree about Branagh. He's wonderful. Not as much of a fan of Cumberbatch, however.
2
Cumberbatch, Branagh and David Tennant were all great Hamlets, and I would love to see any combination of those three together.
6
PS: This is not to be missed: https://vimeo.com/174434551
The only thing missing is at the end. The last person should have said "Hamlet needs to be played as a Prince..."