Movie review: Mr Holmes- Painful Truth or a Happy Lie?

Director: Bill Condon
Starring: Ian McKellen

Release Dates:
19 June 2015 (United Kingdom)
17 July 2015 (United States)

Rating: PG



First off, this movie is nowhere near as good as Gods and Monsters. Secondly, it doesn’t quite succeed in humanising the human calculator, Sherlock Holmes.

The plot is centred on the final case of the great detective, a case that ends in failure, leading him to retire to the country, and to take up a new life as a full-time Beekeeper. The case is explored in flashback with Holmes battling old age and memory loss in order to retell a story that he feels was inaccurately recorded by Dr. Watson.

The problem with this mystery case is that it happens very late in his career, and is not exactly exceptional in and by itself, so it feels more like a narrative plot device rather than the epiphany that would lead Holmes to completely re-evaluate his entire life. I didn’t quite believe in it, even though I really wanted to.

Great actor, mediocre script

When you don’t believe in a major plot point the movie has lost you, and the magic fades. It’s like seeing a magician put the card up his sleeve. You see the trick, and when it’s not a very good one you end up resenting the magician himself.

The emotional core of the movie is about a human calculator finally learning how to empathise and emotionally connect with his fellow human beings, and it should explode with repressed emotion finally being unleashed, but don’t expect any of that in Mr. Holmes.

There are moments of drama, of panic, of brief situational peril, but the emotional core is missing. There is no lost love, no unrequited relationships and no flashbacks where a teary eyed Holmes regrets the lack of physical or emotional attachments in his life. The human calculator does learn how to feel, but at 93 years of age, it feels way, way too late, and the moment of revelation, when it comes, is entirely underwhelming.

‘Mr. Holmes’ is ‘Gods and Monsters’ minus the emotional turmoil, sadness, despair and lack of redemption. It’s a happy lie version of an original movie about painful truth. Director Bill Condon has re-visited his seventeen-year-old masterpiece, and decided that it was a bit too truthful, and way too depressing. With ‘Mr. Holmes’ he has used the same narrative blueprint (confused old man with regrets, housekeeper, young confidant, flashbacks) and released a happier version of that exhilarating and emotionally draining triumph of a movie.

It will be interesting to see how cinema- goers react to this happier version of that far superior movie. I felt a tangible sense of disappointment in the auditorium as I made my way out of the cinema. A happy lie might be nice, but it’s a lie nonetheless. Cinema is at it’s best when you feel like you have been exposed to truth, no matter how unpleasant or uncomfortable that truth might be. Truth will hurt, but if given the choice between painful truth and a happy lie, I’ll happily choose painful truth every single time.


Rating: 6/10 (A happier version of a much better movie)