Mr Holmes

This is one I've been wanting to review for a long time; and another film which I missed at the flicks but was happy to pay for via DVD.

Sherlock Holmes...Ian McKellen. Really who could want more? Yes, right from the first casting announcement that the legendary Conan Doyle sleuth would be brought to life in a new incarnation by the equally legendary sublime actor and I could do nothing but smile.

It is a match made in heaven - and when I finally got to see the finished product, certainly with regard to the main man's performance, I was not dissapointed.

Newly re-imagined as an ageing retiree, Holmes lost none of his wit, mystique, charm, dry humour or charisma. They merely took a new form in that of Ian Mckellen, who encapsulated his character perfectly from start to finish.

Yet all the great actors to have taken on this great role have been so successful because (as so for the likes of James Bond, or The Doctor) they have not only been able to stay resolutely true to the origin of the iconic character but they have also been able to add more than their own twist to great effect. Indeed, in the space of 104 minutes McKellen does just that. There were two distinct and beautifully performed new and quite refreshingly pleasing elements that I feel he managed to add to the stockpile of greatness that is Sherlock Holmes.

First, in an age of the likes of Downey Jr. and Cumberbatch doing their utmost to present great Sherlocks with edgy flare and modern tones (brilliantly too I might add) it was nice to see McKellen inject much of that long-missed sense of classic into his version. I don't just mean he was an elder actor playing an older Holmes, I mean he inhabited Holmes' original time period (even plus a few years) and carried more than enough power, panache and twinkle in his eye to do it justice; knowing when to reign in the audacity and when to go head-first into the drama.

Speaking with drama, the one other new (and in this case completely unique) element Holmes had under the care of McKellen was a highly different sense of tragedy. Again Ian McKellen shows just how superb he is by fully embodying one of fiction's greatest minds through his last adventure and his twilight years, whilst also starting to lose that great mind. Sherlock Holmes was always a multi-layered and at times often tragic figure, but Mckellen shows us a new tragedy, a new nuance and a new highly watchable edge to a great character. I watched McKellen as Mr. Holmes just before awards season earlier this year, and I was, and am highly dissapointed that his performance was not as well recognised as it should be.

McKellen's Holmes is enough to carry this film, and if he was the sole element it would be sublime, yet sadly there were a few jarring elements that dampened this one for me. However there were numerous supporting and highly positive elements too. The cinematography was beautiful, as was Carter Burwell's soundtrack, as was the rather unexpected but welcome cameo of John Sessions as a classic Mycroft Holmes.

Another great element was the edition to the cast of young Milo Parker, who plays Holmes' adoring fan and eventual staunch friend and companion Roger. His performance was uniquely endearing and at times more than matched McKellen on screen. I do feel that Parker is one to watch as an emerging international acting talent.

The other main headline cast addition was that of Laura Linney as Mrs Munro, Holmes' begrudging house-keeper-come-carer. I can understand and clearly see the effort in trying to establish Linney as another source of pathos and gravitas, in a more home-grown, gritty, even regional sense. However I feel that they missed the mark. It's a shame because I love Laura Linney's work, and at times she does shine in this one. But most of the time it is a case of very unsubtle and often sledge-hammer-esque piles of attempted rawness and emotive contemplation being thrown into the mix. This film often works because it is delicately poised and intricately pitched and performed. Sadly Linney's loud and often rough-around-the-edges approach sent things too awry. 

That, plus a tendency of director Bill Condon to flick dangerously and rather jaggedly from the introvert, very personal claustrophobia of Holmes' failing mind, to a more grandiose attempt at olde-English glamour that jarred slightly with me marred the overall effect sadly of Mr. Holmes.

Yet I maintain this is a great film to watch, and a fitting tribute to the staunch and never-ending acting ability of the great Sir Ian McKellen, and to the ever-growing iconic canon of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.