Henry Cavill plays Sherlock Holmes in the movie Sherlock Holmes is one of the most popular and beloved characters in literature, to the point where he has been adapted to all types of media for over a hundred years, and many artists have borrowed the Great Detective to give him new cases, expand his story, or give him and the rest of the characters a twist.
Among those is Nancy Springer’s book series The Enola Holmes Mysteries, which took Sherlock Holmes and other characters from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories to create a new character: Enola Holmes, Sherlock and Mycroft’s youngest sister. The third Holmes sibling stopped seeing her brothers when she was very little and reunited with them following their mother’s disappearance. Enola Holmes has now made the jump to film, with Millie Bobby Brown playing the young detective, Helena Bonham Carter as her mother Eudoria, Sam Claflin as her oldest brother Mycroft, and Henry Cavill as the famous Sherlock Holmes.
Henry Cavill s a long list of actors who have played the famous detective in film, and one of the most popular versions in recent years is that of Robert Downey Jr in Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. This version of the Great Detective has been praised for being true to the essence of the character while also giving him his own style, making him a favorite among fans. With this new version of Sherlock in Enola Holmes, comparisons between Cavill and Downey Jr’s characters have begun to surface, and here’s how different (and alike) they are.
Henry Cavill’s Sherlock Personality vs Downey Jr.
The biggest difference between Henry Cavill’s Sherlock in Enola Holmes and Robert Downey Jr’s version is that the former is a bit more open with his emotions than the latter. In both the book (The Case of the Missing Marquess) and the movie, Sherlock lets Enola know that he cares about her. In the book, Enola mentions that Sherlock has always been her favorite, and in the movie, there is an instant connection between the two siblings, which can’t be said about Enola and Mycroft. It’s understood, then, that Sherlock has always been at least nicer than Mycroft to Enola, which is already a big difference with Downey Jr’s Sherlock.
Robert Downey Jr’s Sherlock Holmes is impulsive and even aggressive at times, untidy, and quite impatient. He’s also rude to many people, particularly Lestrade and Mary Morstan, but he does show respect from time to time. This Sherlock Holmes can also be arrogant, while Cavill’s seemed more down-to-Earth and wasn’t rude to any of the people outside his family he was seen interacting with, though he did get a reality check from both Enola and Edith (Susie Wokoma), but for reasons that have nothing to do with his personality and more with his privilege.
Henry Cavill’s Sherlock Detective Skills
Perhaps the most difficult aspect to compare between both Sherlocks is their detective skills. Enola Holmes focuses on the youngest Holmes sibling and doesn’t give time for the other two to display their talents, especially Sherlock. However, he did show his skills a couple of times, though briefly: first at their family home, where he told Mycroft that their mother planned her disappearance and left something in the chimney, all after taking a look at her shoes. Later on, Sherlock immediately knew that one of the “boys” who jumped out of a moving train was his sister, something Mycroft didn’t even pay attention to. The detective skills of Cavill’s Sherlock, then, were quite good and similar to the source material, as he made his deductions in silence – but Enola turned out to be more skilled than him, or at least faster.
How Book Accurate Cavill’s Sherlock Is Compared To RDJ
When comparing Cavill and Downey Jr’s Sherlocks to the one in the source material, there’s an interesting aspect to take into . Although most The Final Problem”. With that in mind, Henry Cavill’s Sherlock is book accurate, though it’s unknown if he went through the Reichenbach Falls experience.
Robert Downey Jr’s Sherlock, on the other hand, while his personality is slightly different from the Sherlock in the source material, he kept a lot of the detective’s characteristics, such as his coldness and his many different abilities. Both versions are book accurate to an extent, and they are adaptations of different eras or phases of Sherlock Holmes – but again, Enola Holmes didn’t give Sherlock much screen time, so there’s not much to compare, unlike with Downey Jr’s version.
Is Cavill’s Sherlock Better Than Robert Downey Jr’s
Taking all the previous aspects into , when comparing Henry Cavill’s Sherlock and Robert Downey Jr’s, the latter stands as the best version. That doesn’t mean Cavill’s version isn’t good, but there hasn’t been enough time for him to show what his Sherlock is really like, though that’s understandable as the Enola Holmes stories are not Sherlock's, but his sister’s. Cavill’s Sherlock is also representing a different phase of the character, one that is slightly less cold and who actually cares about those around him (whether that was intentional, as the Conan Doyle Estate suggests, or not is unknown).
Ultimately, fans will decide which version of Sherlock Holmes is the best, depending on their own experience and perspective of the character, as well as how much each resonates with them. In the end, each version brings different things to the famous detective, and there’s no reason to not enjoy both.
