He could also put his arms down at his sides, as Cavill cannot. Based on the beloved book series by Nancy Springer, Enola Holmes is a dynamic new mystery-adventure film from Netflix which introduces the worlds greatest. (Plus there's the small but telling fact that when classic Sherlock roamed the streets of London, he did so without bulging out of his tweed frock coat, as Cavill does. Cavill, in stark contrast, is ridiculously warm and empathetic, even tender the ultimate effect feels less like a radical re-interpretation and more like a clumsy mis-interpretation. Enola's brothers - renowned detective Sherlock ( Henry Cavill) and uptight.
Holmes ( Helena Bonham Carter) suddenly disappears on Enola's 16th birthday. The two are exceptionally close until Mrs. Sherlock is, after all, cold, shrewd, impatient and famously tetchy. ENOLA HOLMES ( Millie Bobby Brown) has been raised by her mother alone in their vast country estate to be a strong, independent free thinker.
And speaking of flirting - a romantic subplot involving a young marquess (Louis Partridge), who looks like what you'd get if Victorian farmers had grown boy bands out on the heath, generates neither heat nor sparks, and comes off as one of the film's more formulaic YA components.Īnd I'm honestly puzzled by Cavill's performance as Sherlock here, which, while it may comport with the books' portrayal, feels wildly out-of-step with past interpretations of Arthur Conan Doyle's hero. True, this is a lighter and frothier take on Victorian England than we're used to seeing, though it does flirt with some darker themes involving the mother's fate that threaten to throw off the film's tonal balance. The script is witty, the cast slightly more diverse than you're likely expecting, and there are fun references to canonical Holmes elements throughout. Do I need to tell you that the dour, prim head of the finishing school in question is played by Fiona Shaw? Or that Burn Gorman shows up as a villainous thug, forever lurking in doorways? I don't, right? You guessed all that right away, yes?