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Movie Review: Enola Holmes

Mike Tyrkus

With Enola Holmes, Netflix seems hopeful to establish a franchise based on the teenaged sister of super detective Sherlock Holmes, as portrayed by Millie Bobby Brown. The fact that she herself is a similarly gifted, if not more so, detective in her own right as her sibling only adds to the charm and likability of the character, and the film as a whole.

Enola Holmes (Brown) sets out on her sixteenth birthday perplexed after waking to find that her mother (Helena Bonham Carter) has unceremoniously disappeared. Luckily, Enola comes from a rather distinct lineage rather well-versed in solving supposedly unsolvable mysteries and sets about trying to solve the mystery of her unexplained absence. Upon learning of their mother’s disappearance, her brothers – Sherlock (Henry Cavill) and Mycroft (Sam Claflin) – seem intent on sending Enola to a finishing school rather than taking on her care. Enola, however, is herself a free-spirited super-sleuth with her own distinct talents for survival and she easily eludes her brothers’ watchful eyes to find her missing mother. Whilst on this journey, she befriends another young runaway (Louis Partridge) that puts her on course to untangle a plot to disrupt the very fabric of British life. Which, ultimately, is something she may have to do herself to save her mother as well as her country.

The film is adapted from the initial “Enola Holmes” young adult novel by Nancy Springer and though it spends a considerable amount of time on setup and world-building, the story moves along briskly enough that the considerable wealth of information it imparts never seems to get too oppressive. While much of the credit for this should be given to the film’s heroine, or rather the actress portraying her, the breezy directing style of Harry Bradbeer, as well as the energetic script from Jack Thorne, both allow the film to easily create a character and world that viewers will find themselves wanting to visit with again soon.

Millie Bobby Brown in “Enola Holmes.” LEGENDARY ©2020

But, it is the work of Millie Bobby Brown as Enola that sets the film apart from others of its ilk. As she did on Stranger Things (which is, oddly enough, also a Netflix creation), Brown steals the show from beginning to end here and it is hard to not cheer for her throughout. Though Sherlock and Mycroft are woefully underused throughout, both Cavill and Claflin do well by the characters and are sufficient enough foils to Enola’s heroine that they never feel tacked on or unnecessary. The pseudo-love interest and fellow-in-distress that Enola undertakes to save, Lord Tewksbury (Louis Partridge) is also a welcome addition to a cast already brimming with likable characters.

Perhaps the element missed most underused (to a certain extent at least) throughout is the handling of reform and women’s suffrage. While this is at the heart of the film, it is discussed about as seriously as the color-barrier in baseball was handled in A League of Their Own (1992). Perhaps that is something that will be expanded on in Enola’s coming adventures.

All in all, the initial mystery faced in Enola Holmes is not only highly entertaining, but it also proves to be quite creatively rewarding. There is a sly reverence to the detective genre at work here and an even wittier take at wrestling it away from the patriarchy that currently controls it.

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Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com
An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

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