This film didn’t need a master sleuth to see how terrible it was.
This could have been a good film if not for one element – the fact it was centred on Sherlock Holmes. Holmes has always been an enigma, surrounded by mystery and this film washed it all away and showed his sad demise. Holmes should never, ever be humanised in this crude way – it honestly spoils one’s memory of the iconic character. Also it’s insulting pay-out of Basil Rathbone’s Sherlock Holmes movies is an utter outrage!
Ian McKellen’s performance is good - he is an outstanding performer, but at times his dialogue can be very difficult to understand. His vulnerable and fragile Holmes’ is ridiculous - but he plays it well. Laura Linney plays Holmes’ housekeeper. Linney fails to maintain an accent for longer than 5 lines - I’m sure she covered at least 5 different American accents, as well as a couple of British ones. Her performance was terrible.
This film lacks so much, it isn’t a Conan Doyle plot – it doesn’t live up to any of our prior big or small screen Holmes’. Maybe if this had just been about an aging detective it could’ve been a good film – but it set expectations too high and it just didn’t deliver.
1.5 Stars
Review by Benjamin Maio Mackay
Screening courtesy of Tracey Mair Publicity
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