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Mr Holmes Review


What I liked: This is a good drama with a well told mystery side. I liked thinking about what Sherlock Holmes did with his retirement, though I’m not sure that it was beekeeping. I also liked that Sherlock had spent most of his life learning that sometimes a fiction can be as good or better than a fact. This was entertaining to me since most of the rest of us spend most of our lives learning to tell whole truths instead of white lies. I was also impressed by the makeup. The movie covers what seems to be 20 years worth of memories, it did an excellent job of presenting Holmes at all these different ages, though all old, as recognizably different ages.
What I didn’t: I was expecting something along the lines of Once a Spy where the main character has bouts of lucidity and lapses of senility. I think that would have been exciting and made for a very different storytelling approach. As it was Holmes’ forgetfulness filled the role of Watson, something to slow him down and make him explain the clues that he noticed. The subplot about the special plant from Japan was odd. It gave an application to the final lesson learned by Holmes but I think that could have been satisfied in a less random way. I liked that the armonica featured, that was fun.
Who should watch this: someone looking for a creative drama.
Would I watch it again? if I wanted to show it to someone. I probably wouldn’t watch it on my own again.
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