Mr Holmes

This review may contain spoilers!

I've never seen a Sherlock portrayal that just deserved to be on the small screen more than this. I would give Mr Holmes a 6.5/10.

This film has it's charming elements to say the least, the way the narrative is presented is very reminiscent of many Holmes narratives. This is especially clear in the strong second act of the film, namely when Roger suffers from the wasp stings. Beyond this the music for this film is very quaint, it has the gentle tones that go quite well with this more art haus Holmes.

Milo Parker, who played Roger, was a very genuine likeable portrayal; his earnest relationship with McKellen is such a strong part of what makes the film good.

However the best performance of the film came from Ian McKellen, who played Sherlock Holmes. One of the best parts of his performance was how McKellen portrayed his character with Alzheimer's. It takes a great amount of skill to be able to show such a serious disease in such a powerful and respectful way. McKellen manages to master the disease as well as show the frailty of this legend who has now grown quite old. McKellen works perfectly as Holmes; he's brimming with cynicism and wit. But I think it's how he can just launch into the famous Holmes deductions so effortlessly that make him such a phenomenal Holmes.

This film tends to drag on for quite long, heaped down with otherwise boring plot or completely unnecessary subplot. I think one of the best examples of this was the Japan subplot in which we gain very little interesting backstory and are bogged down with a plot twist that never really pays off. The cinematography within this feature is very dull, the shots seem pulled right from a TV film. Beyond this the editing is kind of all over the place; sometimes there are interesting transitions but these are quickly replaced with some very basic cutting immediately after.

Laura Linney, who played Mrs. Munro, is a very stiff performance, her chemistry with Parker is off and she isn't very reconciliable to watch as an audience member. Hiroyuki Sanada, who played Tamiki Umezaki, spearheads one of the most worthless plots of the film; by the end of the film his character is reduced to little more than a whiny child. Hattie Morahan, who played Ann Kelmot, lacks screen presence; her performance doesn't reflect the importance stressed upon her character. Patrick Kennedy, who played Thomas Kelmot, was a character who just didn't connect to those within his plotline; what was really needed was a scene to prove that he had chemistry with Morahan.