Enola Holmes (2020)

Enola Holmes (2020)

 

6/10

 

Starring

Millie Bobby Brown

Sam Claflin

Henry Cavill

Helena Bonham Carter

 

Directed by Harry Bradbeer

I have to be honest: if this was meant to set off a franchise, I hope they get better in the first act because, here, the intro to what is about to happen is not just boring—it’s terrible. Getting through the first twenty minutes of this movie was a task that took me three tries, but once I got past it, a fun ride laid ahead. Millie Bobby Brown (Enola) owned this movie more than anyone else and gave a performance fitting to be recognized as world-class. The strict, insensitive Mycroft was very annoying and off-putting, but the soft Sherlock was welcoming.

When you think of the acting of the others in the movie in comparison to that of Brown, if she is a 10/10, they’re 5/10. Enola Holmes is a nice thought experiment of how a lady would have grown up with Sherlock and Mycroft’s genes. Do note, the original Sherlock books by Arthur Conan Doyle only spoke of Sherlock having one sibling, Mycroft.

This movie’s fictitious spin on a fictitious detective tale is based on a book series by writer Nancy Springer. It’s an adaptation of the first book in the series, The Case of the Missing Marquess.

After the introduction of Enola, we discover that her mother has left home. Enola believes she is missing, but upon the arrival of her brothers, Sherlock deduces that she has actually left of her own free will. She left Enola in Mycroft’s care, who wanted nothing to do with the young lady and wanted to send her off to finishing school as soon as he could. Sherlock, on the other hand, feels sorry for his sister but is not willing to do anything about it.

Set during the women's suffrage movement in the United Kingdom in the early 1900s, Enola is hell-bent on finding her mother. She runs away from home after following the clues her mother left her—and also some money.

Her running away leads her to a young man, an heir who is also running away from home. She tries to avoid him, but when his life is in danger, she jumps in and saves him. Now both are on the run for two different reasons, which, as the movie progresses, merge. Sherlock is on her tail at every move, and it’s fun to see Enola display the same kind of ingenuity and smarts as her elder brother, Sherlock.

If there’s a sequel, I will be watching. Although the movie is nice to see, it’s blasphemous to compare this to the BBC’s Sherlock. You can catch this movie on Netflix.