Mr Holmes Review

Plot: An elderly, retired Sherlock Holmes (Ian McKellen) lives out in the British countryside with his housekeeper (Laura Linney) and her son (Milo Parker). Haunted by memories of his past, Sherlock befriends the boy and together they work through the unsolved case that ended his career.

There have been so many portrayals of the iconic Sherlock Holmes that it could be said that modern fans are spoilt for choice. It’s therefore impressive that Mr Holmes succeeds in showing the great decretive in a new light: this is an aged, thoughtful and somewhat bitter Sherlock, weighed down by defeat and regret.

Based on Mitch Cullen’s novel of the same name, Mr Holmes is more personal and smaller in scale than the average Sherlock story. Ian McKellen makes the character his own, portraying Sherlock as a grumpy old man in need of a wake up call. This call comes in the form of his final case, which leads him through some of his most painful memories on a journey of self discovery. All this is balanced well with Sherlock’s relationship with Roger, his housekeeper’s son. It’s fun to watch Roger ease Sherlock out of his comfort zone as he attempts befriend the old man, despite his frosty nature.

The twists and turns in this film aren’t as frequent nor as significant as you’d expect from a typical detective flick, but this isn’t that. Mr Holmes’ story is about its character, not its case. JC

Verdict:

Full of character, warmth and intrigue, Mr Holmes is a satisfying story of closure for the great detective.

4/5

Sherlock Series 3 Review

Plot: The world’s greatest consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch), returns to his trusty blogger John Watson (Martin Freeman). But it’s been a long time since the great game was paused and not everyone is ready to start it again.

What the first two episodes of this series lack is a real challenge for Sherlock – a real mystery with real danger surrounding it. Instead everything is scaled down. The majority of Sherlock’s third round on our screens focuses more on its main characters, which had already been developed wonderfully throughout the show. What series three does is take two episodes to go into further detail on the Sherlock/Watson relationship. Whilst this was no doubt entertaining and often hilarious, I found myself getting frustrated with the lack of any serious threat.

An Empty Hearse offers the duo a case that would be far more satisfying if it wasn’t so bloody obvious – the episode takes place on bonfire night, so no points for guessing the villain’s genius plan, the overused phrase “no shit Sherlock” applies here (I’m sorry). The mystery instead surrounds how exactly Sherlock comes back, something which you can tell the show’s writers really had fun with. There’s comedy to be found here, and lots of it. Sherlock’s attempts to fix things with Watson are also hilarious, but this steals focus from everything else in the story, so much so that the ending feels rather rushed which, given the show’s lengthy running time, it really shouldn’t.

The Sign of Three is refreshingly different in structure but the mystery and danger still felt rather minor. Whilst it was entertaining seeing Sherlock awkwardly struggle his way through a personal challenge, it had me wondering if this was a show that had changed so much that it was turning into something I just liked rather than loved. The final part of series three threw that thought from my mind

His Last Vow reminded me just how good an episode of Sherlock can be. The stakes feel high again; everything built upon in the series is now at risk and all because Sherlock is finally given what he deserves – a real mystery, a real threat and a real villain. Magnussen (Lars Mikkelsen) is the kind of powerful genius that can actually intimidate Sherlock. The scenes that he has, he steals, and I found myself hating him but also wishing he had more screen time, which is undoubtably the sign of a good villain. JC

Verdict:

Sherlock still has the potential to be TV gold, even if it doesn’t always shine.

3/5