It makes a change to see a much light hearted and entertaining story about the little sister of the Holmes brothers, that is rarely heard of, given that, for much of the series of Sherlock Holmes, it took some time to realise that he even had a big brother, let alone a kooky sister who they barely even spoke about.
Enola which when read backwards spells Alone, is a child brought up by her Mother, and barely saw her brothers. Naturally, the age difference between her and her brothers is massive and you could expect to see Mycroft despairing at the laughter and gaiety of a young girl, more of a tomboy in nature, causing chaos and mayhem around the old family estate.
In the New series of Sherlock, we learnt about Mycroft, his big brother, and a little of the sister, who was locked away for her own good, and who was plotting on getting rid of Sherlock once and for all, or so I was led to believe.
In the Netflix film, Enola is 16, lives with her eccentric mother in the country at the family estate, with a housekeeper and a series of women who frequent the house, who have in some way taught Enola how to protect herself in times of great need.
Enola played by Millie Bobby Brown of the Stranger Things series, who is also one of the producers of the film, engages you with her character throughout, talking to the camera as if she’s really talking to you, explaining the facts of the situation.
Enola learnt to read ALL the books in the library at a young age. Learnt how to use weapons, and how to play a mean game of tennis – indoors, and uncovered great secrets about her mother, (that had been kept hidden from her, throughout her childhood) when she woke up one morning to find that her Mother had vanished.
Mother, played by Helena Bonham Carter, without giving too much away of the plot, is planning on something hugely explosive, and requires hush hush talks in study rooms, away from prying eyes and 16 year old girls. Of course, Enola, unaware of what is afoot, begins to learn something about secrets and how to look for them after speaking with her brother Sherlock under the shade of the old tree on their property. She goes in search of clues in her Mother’s study and uncovers quite a few things which take her to London, on board a train, which brings her more trouble than either of the Holmes’ brothers could muster between them.
And that’s where it gets interesting; not that it wasn’t interesting before, but for a Woody, I grew extremely excited by the lead baddie in this story, who appears more than once in the film. Not a blink and you’ve missed him, although I did have to rewatch the trailer a second time and freeze frame it to be absolutely sure of my facts before screaming: IT’S OWEN!!!
Yes folks, Burn Gorman plays another convincing baddie, and plays him well. He suits the bad boy role and Linthorn is indeed a nasty piece of work. I can’t really tell you too much about his employer, but his role in the piece is to eliminate the young Tewkesbury played by Louis Partridge, for reasons that are later explained in the film.
I have to admit that I quite enjoyed
watching the actor who played Lestrade, because unlike his character in the
present day Sherlock, this character was much more entertaining and had a touch
of Inspector Clouseau about him.
It has a great cast who suit the roles perfectly. Henry Cavill plays Sherlock and Sam Claflin plays Mycroft, along with Ellie Haddington playing Miss Gregory, and Frances De La Tour as the Dowager.
Everything about this film is uplifting
and exciting and fresh and with a flavour of the great British countryside,
which for me is enjoyable. The steam train scenes were wonderfully put together
and tight as the corridors are between carriages, the angles of the filming for
the scenes when young Tewkesbury is hanging off the door has you on the edge of
your seat as to whether he’ll make it back onboard the train before it reaches
the bridge.
I loved every inch of this film and I can’t rate it highly enough. You have to watch it. It’s one of those Saturday afternoon, or rainy day films. A pick me up film. A tonic. A laugh. An edge of the seat bit of excitement. Oh and did I mention – it’s got BURN ruddy GORMAN in it?
No comments:
Post a Comment