Review: Mr. Holmes

It’s the late 1940’s and 93 year-old Sherlock Holmes (Sir Ian McKellen) is living his last years in a remote house in the English countryside. After all these years of having his exploits inexactly portrayed in books by Dr. Watson, Holmes attempts to put pen to paper to correct the record before his mental faculties completely leave him. He particularly wants to set straight the account of his last case, which led to his retirement. Meanwhile, he strikes up a friendship of sorts with the young child (Milo Parker) of his dour, widowed housekeeper (Laura Linney).

Sir Ian McKellen reunites with “Gods and Monsters” director Bill Condon (“Dreamgirls”, “Kinsey”) for this pleasant 2015 mystery/drama based on a book by Mitch Cullin. Giving us a 90 odd year-old Sherlock Holmes, McKellen is pretty much the whole show here and doesn’t remotely disappoint. I’m not a Holmes aficionado, but McKellen’s aged interpretation of the classic literary detective reminds me of what Christopher Lee’s Holmes might’ve ended up like a few decades down the track: Cranky at times, humourless, and for the most part barely tolerating intrusions from other human beings. He’s perfect. OK, so I’m not sure I entirely buy him as a 90 year-old man, but he’s convincing at playing someone older than McKellen usually appears to be, which is enough for me. In fact it’s actually quite affecting to see him/Holmes in such frailty, especially with Holmes’ trademark brilliant mind. You see, in this interpretation Dr. Watson actually wrote the character of Sherlock Holmes as you and I know it, and now Holmes himself wants to set the record straight before all of his mental faculties leave him forever.

On the downside is a fatal miscasting in the form of Laura Linney, who to my ears rarely if ever gets the Bristolian accent right. In the opening 10 minutes her accent travels from Cockney to Irish to American to WTF. At one point she goes from chimney sweep to potato farmer within the one sentence! It’s ridiculous and her monotonously dour performance isn’t interesting enough to get past the failure to find a consistent accent (Want proof that it’s wonky? Look at other reviews which will confuse her character for Welsh, Scottish, or Cockney English!). I thought Hiroyuki Sanada was interesting casting as a bespectacled Japanese businessman Holmes meets with, though that secondary plotline isn’t especially riveting. Having said that, the story of Holmes’ last case isn’t anything terribly interesting, either. I feel like given the weighty stuff surrounding the aging Holmes character itself, that it deserved a more interesting mystery than what we get here. Yet, the film still works…albeit not as well as one would wish.

Adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher (“Casanova”), it’s a shame that the main plot of the film is a bit slight because there is something here about mortality and loneliness that is really worthy, even if the film doesn’t quite move you to tears like you might expect. McKellen gives one of his best performances, and the conclusion is really quite lovely.

Rating: B-