Review of Mr. Holmes (2015) by Kyle B — 20 Jul 2015

In other hands, Mr. Holmes could have been another boring period piece. But in the hands of Ian McKellen and Laura Linney, both among our finest actors, it never bored me to tears like many do. The story overall isn't the most interesting thing in the world until the end where everything really starts to connect but I really loved the relationship of Holmes and the little boy more than anything.

McKellen made every scene interesting and you couldn't zone out because his voice is such a commanding presence on the screen that even if you don't care about what he's talking about, he has such a rhythm to his voice that is like music to your ears.

Linney was a tad underutilized but made every scene worth her time like she usually can be expected to do. Milo Parker gave a great breakout performance as the little boy I was talking about. He is going to have an interesting career ahead of him.

Bill Condon is a director I always find myself rooting for although his past 3 films were not the best on his resume (The Fifth Estate and the final two Twilight movies) but this joins the ranks of Dreamgirls as Condon's good work but not as great as his first couple like Gods and Monsters (with McKellen) and Kinsey (with Linney).

I'm not a big Sherlock Holmes fan but that's the beauty of this movie. It isn't your normal Sherlock Holmes movie. The costumes, score, production design, and make up are all great and it definitely was received well by the older crowd I saw this movie with so I would recommend all ages to go see it.