After her mother disappears, Enola (Millie Bobby Brown) is placed under the guardianship of her older brothers Mycroft (Sam Claflin) and Sherlock (Henry Cavill)
Most of the time, Netflix original movies are a cause for concern.
A vehicle for Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown, Enola Holmes is a fun little movie that promises a new franchise and a young star on the rise. It is a cliche that I dislike, but this movie is feels like the beginning of something special.
As the title character, Brown is fantastic. Intelligent, witty and with strong sense of self, Enola is a winning heroine with a strong moral centre (refreshing in this age of grizzled anti-heroes). She even makes the device of speaking to camera feel totally natural, making the viewer feel like a co-conspirator in her schemes to escape her brothers and solve the mystery. It could have been annoying, but Brown is so earnest and charming, I never rolled my eyes.
The mystery is not that complex, but that is not really important - this is a movie about Enola trying to make her way in a man's world.
I enjoyed the recasting of the Holmes brothers as they re-enter Enola's life - Mycroft is a misogynistic prat who wants to stuff Enola away in a finishing school so he can carry on as before. From what I recall of Mycroft in the original stories, he is far brighter than Sherlock but infinitely more lazier, and makes a living working for the government.
Sam Claflin is cursed to look like a leading man - he is a far better actor than he is given credit for, and he gives Mycroft a self-satisfaction that is extremely hate-able.
Cavill is fine as a more sympathetic foil for Enola, but he never convinces as Sherlock. Juxtaposed with Claflin, he comes across as a well-meaning non-entity.
The movie is surprisingly dark, particularly in the way it manages to feed in some context of the age - Enola takes a nasty slap to the face, and the reveal of the final villain posits some incredibly disturbing family dynamics.
I really enjoyed the fact that it never tries to build into a full-on action movie (ala the last Sherlock Holmes movies). The movie's budget is not huge, but that makes the world feel more intimate and lived in. It kind of reminded me of Birds of Prey in that respect - there is an economy of scale that I really enjoyed.
Thinking of this movie, BoF and Invisible Man, if female-led action movies have to operate on a smaller scale, it might be for the best. If filmmakers do not have all the money to throw at problems, it might lead to better constructed scripts, better character development, and unique innovations born of economic necessity.
This is wild speculation on my part but looking ahead to the post-COVID movie landscape, where theatre companies might have to close, and audience sizes might be limited, the strategy of big companies betting the farm on 200 million-plus blockbusters is probably over. Movies like Enola Holmes give me hope that mid-budget genre pictures might be on the way back.
If there is a flaw, I found there was some muddiness about the subplot involving Enola's mother - there is an implied connection between her disappearance and the central mystery, but it feels very tangential, and it did not feel like a satisfying resolution to Enola's story.
That aside, Enola Holmes is an enjoyable film boosted by Brown's terrific performance. I had no expectations going in, but this is one Netflix original that I wouldn't mind seeing get a sequel.
No comments:
Post a Comment