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Enola Holmes review thread (RT 90%)
- Thread starter Saucycarpdog
- Start date
I really liked this movie. It's charming and fun. It does drag on a bit in the middle, but it was super cute. I want to see T least two more of these films get made.
This might be the worst depiction of Mycroft I've ever seen, though. Same with Lestrade. The actors were great but the way they decide to write them was...very blatantly subversive.
This might be the worst depiction of Mycroft I've ever seen, though. Same with Lestrade. The actors were great but the way they decide to write them was...very blatantly subversive.
My wife asked why I didn't play the next episode when it was over. I knew it was a movie, but I completely get it. It's paced far more like a long pilot than a film. I was honestly shocked at the end when
her mother returned. There was no real resolution. Her mother didn't fully explain where she went and why and Enola didn't actually follow her hints far enough to find her. The whole thing felt like, "well we've got 10 minutes, let's wrap it up". It seemed like a good set up for a season long mystery but instead it was just "I was going to be a revolutionary but you beat me to it, so good job and bye". Maybe I was too distracted getting stars in Mario 64.
I kept getting distracted by some baffling CG. I understand why there is a ton of CG when they are hanging off the train, for example. That would be a dangerous stunt. But right at the start of the movie Enola is sitting in a tree talking to Sherlock. Rather than actually film this, they superimposed Millie to be sitting on a tree branch 4 feet off the ground. Could they not find a ladder?
Hmmmm, girlfriend and i really didn't like it all that much.
* The whole "Enola dresses up as a boy" is certainly because it's based on a book, but when turned into a movie, you really gotta cast accordingly, or figure out some other plot device. Because i can only suspend my disbelief so much that people would mistake Millie Bobby Brown wearing a hat for a boy. And they use that narrative device multiple times.
* Some stylistic choices - A lot of fourth wall breaking, inconsistent transitions; like you had the whole "torn paper" thing, but also the "silent movie" titlecards. There was no coherent 'style' to it, really.
* The riddles were lame. Like, almost everything was an anagram.
* Fight choreography was kinda bad.
I have no issues whatsoever with the core message of the movie, but i felt it was used almost in an inflationary fashion - too often, too in-your-face. Like, i get that it's based on a children's book / young adult book; but it lacked any kind of subtlety and kept hammering you over the head.
And finally, and i realize i might be an outlier here, but i think the more i see of her, the less i am fond of Millie Bobby Brown's acting. Like, she was fantastic in Stranger Things.
But her acting is way too flawless, she feels like a genetically engineered, perfectly trained "Young Actress" (tm) - i can't find any specific flaws in her acting, but to me, in this movie it always feels like it's MBB playing Enola, not "being" that character 🤷‍♂️
Funnily, they actually barely show any of that. Like, none of the women (apart from Enola ofc.) shown in the movie - not Enola's mom, nor the noblewoman or the dowager, not the school headmistress, not even the lady from the dress shop or the black martial-arts trainer - are shown to be "suffering". They all seem to do perfectly fine, none of them are shown to be suffering in any way, shape or form. Like, cmiiw.
Sure, one might say "gender discrimination is subtle and not always openly visible" but seeing how unsubtle the movie was in its messages in general, i don't think that was intentional.
Meanwhile, sure, Enola was treaten badly - but she was treaten badly by asshole characters (Mycroft, the Headmistress). Which undercuts the message of systemic misogyny / patriarchy, by portraying it more as a "shitty people holding shitty views".
* The whole "Enola dresses up as a boy" is certainly because it's based on a book, but when turned into a movie, you really gotta cast accordingly, or figure out some other plot device. Because i can only suspend my disbelief so much that people would mistake Millie Bobby Brown wearing a hat for a boy. And they use that narrative device multiple times.
* Some stylistic choices - A lot of fourth wall breaking, inconsistent transitions; like you had the whole "torn paper" thing, but also the "silent movie" titlecards. There was no coherent 'style' to it, really.
* The riddles were lame. Like, almost everything was an anagram.
* Fight choreography was kinda bad.
I have no issues whatsoever with the core message of the movie, but i felt it was used almost in an inflationary fashion - too often, too in-your-face. Like, i get that it's based on a children's book / young adult book; but it lacked any kind of subtlety and kept hammering you over the head.
And finally, and i realize i might be an outlier here, but i think the more i see of her, the less i am fond of Millie Bobby Brown's acting. Like, she was fantastic in Stranger Things.
But her acting is way too flawless, she feels like a genetically engineered, perfectly trained "Young Actress" (tm) - i can't find any specific flaws in her acting, but to me, in this movie it always feels like it's MBB playing Enola, not "being" that character 🤷‍♂️
Funnily, they actually barely show any of that. Like, none of the women (apart from Enola ofc.) shown in the movie - not Enola's mom, nor the noblewoman or the dowager, not the school headmistress, not even the lady from the dress shop or the black martial-arts trainer - are shown to be "suffering". They all seem to do perfectly fine, none of them are shown to be suffering in any way, shape or form. Like, cmiiw.
Sure, one might say "gender discrimination is subtle and not always openly visible" but seeing how unsubtle the movie was in its messages in general, i don't think that was intentional.
Meanwhile, sure, Enola was treaten badly - but she was treaten badly by asshole characters (Mycroft, the Headmistress). Which undercuts the message of systemic misogyny / patriarchy, by portraying it more as a "shitty people holding shitty views".
The late Vittorio Gassman (italian cinema and theatre legend) used to recite the phonebook, medical reports, ultraniche scientific research, etc...
Here he is reading the menu of a restaurant.
I'd say yes, definitely. It's certainly a film made for younger audiences. The tone is on the comedic side and although another poster has said that it is themed around Victorian era politics, it's watered down enough that a kid wouldn't necessarily need to be invested in understanding everything they're saying. It was a cute film and I'd say it's actually made for the teen/tween demographic. So 7 is a bit below that, but still doable. Like a live action Disney film.
It's a likeable fun film, and clearly aimed at a teen audience. MBB has really broadened her range here, and Cavill's a very good Holmes - I'd happily watch more films with the two of them.
Agree with some of the messaging being repetitive and some of the fight choreography needing a little work but it was a fun movie for a Friday night.
Watched it last night. It was super enjoyable but as others have said the message got so hammered into the movie that it felt overplayed. Felt like a great first chapter and I think a sequel could be excellent if they even half way try.
You know the fact that Henry Cavill is super charming in everything but Superman sure says something.
Quite an enjoyable, breezy film. Really leans into the quirkiness and playing loose and fast with history, and its plot could have done with another draft, but it's certainly the kind of film Millie Bobby Brown needed to be in, because she was in danger of getting typecast as the stoic weird girl (even in Godzilla she wasn't far away from Eleven), and some folk even thought that's all she could do. Here she gets to be center stage and energetic, based on her work here I actually think she has a future beyond Stranger Things for the first time, and she should look for more roles using her natural accent.
A sequel focusing more on traditional Holmes style mystery with her and Cavill's Sherlock in a more prominent role would be a fine idea. This one was more like an origin story and carried the usual drawbacks of that. Splitting the film between two apparent mysteries meant one or the other was always getting shortchanged; the missing mother plotline disappeared for the entire second half.
A sequel focusing more on traditional Holmes style mystery with her and Cavill's Sherlock in a more prominent role would be a fine idea. This one was more like an origin story and carried the usual drawbacks of that. Splitting the film between two apparent mysteries meant one or the other was always getting shortchanged; the missing mother plotline disappeared for the entire second half.
It's weird to me that a character who is related to one of the great Brit fictional characters is named after an American novel. What's next, 007''s cousin Atticus Bond?
Found the movie to be a fun teen romp in the Holmes universe. Weird that it wasn't a series, as its rather long while still feeling overly rushed at times. Think many parts of film could've been broken up into thirty min episodes such as Elona's boarding school experience and/or uncovering clues regarding her mother's whereabouts. As a series they could've also had more opportunities for presenting/solving mysteries along the way as it's just odd to have a Holmes movie that's a bit slight on detection.
Another person who thought this was a TV show.
Not the target audience, but turned it off after 30 mins. A bit too precocious for me, and grew really weary of the 'girl in the sexist world' stuff - really tried to hit you over the head with it, which is fine, but just felt really obvious and ground level to me (like it might have been interesting 20 years ago). Definitely make the point here and there, but felt like the whole thrust of the show.
Not the target audience, but turned it off after 30 mins. A bit too precocious for me, and grew really weary of the 'girl in the sexist world' stuff - really tried to hit you over the head with it, which is fine, but just felt really obvious and ground level to me (like it might have been interesting 20 years ago). Definitely make the point here and there, but felt like the whole thrust of the show.
That's my point. Anyone choosing to watch this, pretty much knows that it's about a strong female lead and probably acknowledges that. Self selective audience that wants a strong female lead. Not necessary to repeat the message over and over and over.
It just struck me as the feeling that netflix hired a male screenwriter, and was like "really hammer in that she's a strong female" which just feels weird. Because it just feels more like projecting than showing.
I had a fun time with this. Wish it had had a better mystery, hopefully the inevitable sequel sorts this out.
I mean, wasn't that also a ruse used for Eleven in Stranger Things early on?
I don't think Brown passing for a boy is all that far fetched.
Watched it with the wife last night. We both quite liked it, think there will be a sequel for sure.
MBB was excellent in my opinion, but as much as I like Henry Cavill he is not the Sherlock type.
MBB was excellent in my opinion, but as much as I like Henry Cavill he is not the Sherlock type.
what was the point of the whole basket escape bit at the school? she just walked out and stole the car. why couldn't she have done that at any time? not like it was some high security facility.
It was charming, but didn't make a lot of sense. The entire sequence going into the final confrontation was nonsense.
This really is the definition of a solidly entertaining movie. The mystery and overall themes were very obvious, although when it comes to the themes of the movie I'm more than happy to embrace them in 2020. Still, disappointing it was so straightforward. MBB was really good. I would happily watch another one of these.
IIRC from what I read on Wikipedia, Watson appears in the later books in the series the movie is based upon. And at the end of the series Sherlock becomes her legal guardian and she does indeed become his assistant/partner.
Did anyone else think there were some bizarre tonal shifts in this flick? Fun movie, but there were some weird moments.
Just hit me weird, tonally.
Like the moment she was being drowned by the assassin and then played dead, and then the camera held on her pale, drowned, eyes-opened face for a few seconds before she winks at the audience in a return to quirky, fourth wall breaking form? Then followed by a relatively brutal fight that's capped off with her being saved by her corset.
that is exactly what I feel. It should be a series not a movie.
yes, the movie was enjoyable but it didn't have a resolution at all, just to the side mystery. Nothing came out of the women secret society or the bombs, her motherjust cane out of nowhere at the end because the movie must end, didn't explain anything. Plus nothing is resolved with Sherlock too, he is her new tutor but that didn't establish a new status quo at all, Mycroft could be still responsible for her and it would be the same.
