The world’s most well known and appreciated detective, Sherlock Holmes, finds himself at the end of his career with a defeated memory and blurry recollections on past cases. In ‘Mr Holmes’, we get the most revealing look at one of history’s greatest literary characters. The year is 1947, and an aging Sherlock Holmes (Ian Mckellan) returns from a journey to Japan, where, in search of a rare plant with powerful restorative qualities, he has witnessed the devastation of nuclear warfare. Now, in his remote farmhouse, Holmes faces the end of his days tending to his bees, with only the company of his housekeeper (Laura Linney) and her young son, Roger (Milo Parker). Grappling with the diminishing powers of his mind, Holmes comes to rely upon the boy as he revisits the circumstances of the unsolved case that forced him into retirement, and searches for answers to the mysteries of life and love before it’s too late. The film is a solid effort from Director Bill Condone (Dreamgirls), and comes to showcase more of the long shots of countryside cinematography that set a picture perfect stage for the stories he always tells. The film is a little tough to recommend for Holmes fans, as it’s pacing and tone are done very slow. With the exception of the final fifteen minutes, there is zero intrigue or suspense to this film. It didn’t affect me to the point of negative impact for the feature, but a little mystery is just what this film could’ve used as the motivational fire to get Sherlock moving again. Even said, it’s hard to argue against the past-his-prime look of our main protagonist, even more so because of Mckellan’s silent facial reactions can supply the perfect silent narrative to any situational scene, funny or sad. His on-screen interraction with Parker is something that casts the film in it’s most entertaining of lights, with perhaps a new Sherlock waiting in the wings. Milo supplies one of the very best child actor performances that i have seen of the last five years. He’s very intelligent and quick witted, yet his endless charisma never feels forced or manufactured by the crew behind the camera. It was such a delight to watch these two actors of such a differential age group work off of each other, as they are both easily the best part of each other’s day. The film’s subplots are a little jumbled, with the Japan storyline, as well as a look back to Holmes final case with a disappearing housewife. The former is completely unnecessary and only feels like it gets in the way of the latter when it comes to narrative precision. One aspect that the film takes on is that from the novel titled ‘A Slight Trick of the Mind’, in which Holmes reveals that many of John Watson’s novels were a fabrication. It gives the film a third dimensional feel with the books and the real Sherlock Holmes co-existing in the same universe. If you are a fan of the Sherlock Holmes lore, this one might be solid enough to check out when it hits the DVD shelves. There’s no shootouts or chase scenes, but a 93 year old Holmes is still more than capable of narrating a good story. ‘Mr Holmes’ is easy and straight to the point with that idea.

6/10