Review: Mr. Holmes

Mr. Holmes

What is the opposite of compelling?  I don't mean that in a nasty way.  This movie doesn't pull you along and it doesn't push you along.  It just goes and invites you to follow.  For those that accept the invitation there is a rewarding viewing experience to be had.

The first thing I noticed that I liked was the music.  There was a different type of theme playing at the beginning.  Not epic.  Not scary.  I guess I'm too used to superhero movies or dinosaur movies and the bombastic scores they carry.  I was, however, slightly disappointed that there was really only one major theme in the music throughout the picture that I noticed.  How very BBC of them.

This movie starts off with an aged Sherlock Holmes.  He is 92 years old.  And Ian McKellan plays old very convincingly.  So convincingly that I wondered some about how many years we have left before he dies!  But the flashback scenes where he plays a (slightly) younger and sharper Sherlock Holmes gave me hope that the old man he was playing was just an act.  Thank goodness.  Of course Ian McKellan is old.  Just not that old.

The supporting cast ranges from good to great.  I'm really an easy critic when it comes to acting.  I believed in all the characters on the screen therefore they did a good job!  The one special mention goes to the boy actor who plays a major supporting role and certainly does a grand job for his age.

Many movies that use the same protagonist as a prior movie claim that in the new installment he (or they) face a new or different kind of challenge.  A kind of challenge that the protagonist has not faced before.  Mr. Holmes doesn't claim that.  But Mr. Holmes might be the first movie to deliver it.  Here we have a Sherlock Holmes story that truly is a different kind of challenge for the character.  And the payoff at the end is better for it.

      Big Shot Critic