Mr holmes: The new but old Sherlock

Starring:Sir Ian McKellen, Laura Linney, Hiroyuki Sanada, Milo Parker

Rated:7/10

This is not the Sherlock Holmes you may have grown up with. He is not young, far from cocky or even self-assured though some of his dry humour does manage to save itself from all the wrinkling of a 93-year-old Mr Holmes.

Battling the rigours of age and distinct memory losses (he keeps writing the names of people around him on his shirt sleeve lest he forgets), this very old Mr Holmes delves into something Sherlock Holmes never has — his own emotional state. This brings him to lend his thoughts to his last case of a woman who kills herself which happened 30 years ago but has haunted him ever since. The reason? His emotions for once soared over his logic.

The age and the overwhelming wrinkles of this 93-year-old hero played to perfection by Ian McClean, however, do not come in the way of him, shaping the case of this film alongside retirement memories, bee-keeping, relationship building and attempting to do everything he can to save his memory, which means he even goes to Japan to get the prickly ash which is meant to restore memory gaps.

The director and the writer have done well to keep the movie powerful despite the lack of a real case or the fervency of youthful investigations. The film, going into frequent flashbacks, grows on you despite the frailties of your evergreen Arthur Conan Doyle hero. Here, he is more cynical than usual, does not wear the hat he is known to and prefers to smoke a cigar which he never has in any previous film. And Mr Watson is never seen even once though the director does well to keep his presence rather constant in the film.

It is a slow moving, emotional Mr Holmes you have. But age and wrinkles keep you aptly buried in the proceedings nevertheless. 

Source: Sunday Pioneer, July 26, 2015