Movie 26 - Enola Holmes (2020), Dir. Harry Bradbeer.
The movie has ambition, but it lacks proper execution.
The movie follows Enola Holmes (Millie Bobby Brown) as she sets out to find her mother Eudoria (Helena Bonham Carter) after she disappears. Sherlock (Henry Cavill) and Mycroft (Sam Claflin) Holmes are also in the movie.
Personally, I'm a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes, I've seen the Sherlock (BBC) show, The RDJ movies, and even some of the Elementary episodes. Each rendition of the characters across the adaptations is unique.
The movie is a good entertainer. Enola is quite a charming and funny girl who is rebelling against standard societal norms, which is good to see. She is an absolute joy to watch. Millie Bobby Brown has done a wonderful job of making the character unique and charming.
The fourth-wall breaks are absolutely perfect, the usage of them to show her thought process brings the storytelling aspect to another level. The wall breaks are also good in keeping the audience engaged.
Another thing that is good is the mystery is not overly complicated, and the clues that are given can be solved by anyone, including the audience. They don't make it seem like Enola is a mastermind who can solve the most complex puzzles. Instead, by making her street smart and book smart, and not having a lot of ego, she becomes much more grounded and relatable to a certain level. Another good thing they did is not dumb down Sherlock, he is also smart and capable.
I will say that Sherlock is more caring and sympathetic towards Enola in small ways. He doesn't show it much, but the body language by Henry Cavill expresses the feelings well. Would love to see more of his version of Sherlock.
The time setting of it around late 1800's was good, it had a modern aspect to it but not too modern nor too ancient. The cinematography and sound was well done.
Plot-wise, the story kept building up but it all led to essentially nothing.
The Eudoria running away storyline became a bore because the reason that she ran away ended up being for nothing. I mean, she ran away to bomb places in London and change society but failed. From the stories by Enola about her personality and characteristics, the ending didn't fit well.
The Tewksbury storyline became kind of predictable when they decided to go confront the killer, as obviously they are not going to kill her. The romance between them was there, but they didn't lean into it too much which was good. The story needed to be about Enola, and her actually understanding the pros and cons of the romance makes her different from her brothers and generally others too, which makes her character development even better.
Mycroft, for some reason, is overtly cold and harsh and even misogynistic, which is how the majority of men during that time period were. But for some reason, they made him seem like he hated Enola and despised her existence, he treated her like trash. To me, he was a monster. The scenes of him blatantly insulting her to her face and making her cry was not needed. I don't get why you have to make him like that to boost the character development of Enola. Even his chemistry with Sherlock was bad. Compared to other iterations of Mycroft, this one is by far the worst. He could still be a cold person who has only one perspective, just don't make him a women hater.
There was less mystery-solving from both Enola and Sherlock, which did not make a lot of sense. It was more drama and eventually just drama. The story of her going to the finishing school was not shown well. For a girl so smart and witty, the story made it seem like she was helpless and dumb. I mean, she was devastated that her brothers didn't seem to care about her, but that crushing of her spirit is... actually never mind, she didn't have any hope left and didn't want to do anything anymore, which makes sense. But the method of them doing this was underhanded and made it seem very sad and bad.
Overall, the movie is a decent adaptation and a good one. It stays partially true to the mystery angle but fails to make it successful. I will definitely see Enola Holmes 2 (2022) and let you know my thoughts on that. 7/10
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My next review is going to be The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Check this out on Medium.
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