Mr Holmes

Ian McKellan gets to add yet another iconic character to his resume in this latest take on the  Sherlock Holmes mythos, Mr Holmes.

It is the end of World War 2 and Sherlock Holmes (Ian McKellan) returns from Japan to his  remote country retirement cottage. Accompanied only by his housekeeper and her young son Roger (Milo Parker), he seeks to write down the particulars of his last case, and correct the often faulty published recollections of Dr Watson. However, age has taken its toll even on the memory of the world’s greatest consulting detective, and he struggles to remember the details. As Holmes strikes up a friendship with Roger, they both seek to find the clues amongst Sherlock’s own possessions and solve his final case.

The strength of Mr Holmes lies in two areas. The first is the solid bones of its script. Based on the novel A Slight Trick Of The Mind by Mitch Cullen, it weaves its multiple timelines slowly together till the plot fits with an almost audible click. It is immensely satisfactory to see the elements impact on each other and find resolution; nothing feels superfluous. Furthermore it is filled with Holmseian logic, managing to capture the feel of Arthur Conan Doyle’s work and many of the films that came afterwards, maintaining its uniqueness but dovetailing into the world of Sherlock Holmes. 

Which is no mean feat. Given that it is set across two periods of time removed from the Victorian setting of the original. The first, after World War 1, sees Holmes exercising his deductive skills in one last case, the other sees him fighting senility as he struggles to remember the details of that case. Each era is lovingly recreated and given marvellous detail, each reflects the zeitgeist of the time, that sense of loss from the war combined with the desire to move forward and rebuild. It weaves into the themes of loss, change and rebirth nicely, without having to club the audience over the head with it.

The second pillar of this film is Ian McKellan. He effortlessly inhabits the character, displaying the confidence at the height of his powers and the fragility of him closer to the end of his life. There is a definite sense of glee in his performance when he attacks some of the Holmesian tropes and overturns them (“I prefer a cigar”), but this is balanced by the pathos he can bring to the elderly Holmes, struggling with his greatest gifts being stripped from him by age. His interaction with the young Milo Parker, who does so much more than merely hold his own here, adds a depth of empathy and understanding rarely seen in the character.

A beautifully balanced work that adds something new to a classic character, while being respectful and aware of its origins. Mr Holmes is an intelligently written, gently paced and perfectly cast piece of cinema.

Originally published in X-Press Magazine