Entertainment
Millie Bobby Brown’s Netflix Mystery Movie Is A Modern Classic
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Sherlock Holmes is one of the most popular characters ever made, and for writers and directors, that’s a problem. The character has already been reconceived as a kind of action hero in the 2009 Sherlock Holmes film, and the character has been transported to a modern setting in the highly successful 2010 Sherlock show. Between these projects and nearly 140 years of Sherlock media, it’s difficult to imagine that anyone could ever do anything new with this character.
A few years back, though, Netflix solved this problem in the most unconventional way: by focusing on Sherlock’s sister instead! Enola Holmes (2020) is a relentless comedy caper that stars Superman icon Henry Cavill as Sherlock and Stranger Things icon Millie Bobby Brown as his sister, the titular Enola Holmes. The film will change how you see both of these legendary actors, and it won’t take long before you get caught up in the best mystery comedy (sorry, Knives Out, I said what I said) of modern cinema.
Elementary, My Dear Eleven
The premise of Enola Holmes is that the titular character is a precocious, wildly intelligent girl who wakes up one day to a mystery: her mother has suddenly gone missing. She has the same mystery-solving moxie as her famous brother, and it doesn’t take her very long to seek out the help of Sherlock Holmes. There’s only so much he can do, however, leaving his little sister to use all of her wits and more than a bit of luck to solve a case that may very well affect all of England before everything is said and done.
As you might expect, Enola Holmes is filled with some familiar British actors, including Burn Goreman (best known for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice). If you’re not a huge fan of UK television, though, you’ll be far likelier to recognize big names like Helena Bonham Carter (best known for Fight Club) and Henry Cavill (best known for Man of Steel). But the real star of this particular show is Millie Bobby Brown (best known for Stranger Things), whose charismatic performance as the titular Enola Holmes allows her to let her hair down and show just how funny she can be when she’s not stuck in an ‘80s pastiche horror show.
It’s No Mystery Why Audiences Love Enola Holmes
Enola Holmes is exclusive to Netflix, which is historically very cagey about streaming numbers. However, the film was very clearly a major success, which is why we got Enola Holmes 2 just a couple of years later. Netflix has since confirmed that they are working on Enola Holmes 3, so we may see a third cinematic outing for Sherlock Holmes’ sister quicker than you can say “the game is afoot.”
When Enola Holmes came out, reviewers decided that this fresh take on the Sherlock formula was exactly what they had been looking for. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 91 percent, and critics praised the film for breathing such new life into the Sherlock mythos. They also singled out Millie Bobby Brown for giving an utterly charming performance full of all the grace and humor that she never really gets to display in Stranger Things.
A Modern Twist On A Classic Franchise
During my initial viewing of Enola Holmes, I generally agreed with the critics that this is a fun, lighthearted take on the Sherlock Holmes mythos. It’s less interested in pure spectacle than the Robert Downey Jr. film and far less invested in broody drama than the Benedict Cumberbatch TV show. Instead, this movie invites you to just vibe out in one of the most popular fictional universes ever made, all while reminding you why so many fell in love with Sherlock in the first place.
While it may sound pretty weird on paper, Enola Holmes is also highly effective precisely because it was designed as a comedy caper rather than a serious mystery. In the wrong hands, this would have been a disaster, and it’s easy to imagine the whole thing coming across like a dead-on-arrival Saturday Night Live skit. But director Harry Bradbeer (best known for his work on Killing Eve and Fleabag) perfectly channels the playful energy of the film to create a manic adventure that barely leaves you any time to breathe.
Millie Bobby Brown’s Best Work
Rewatching Enola Holmes crystallized something that I suspected on my first viewing: this is, by far, the best acting Millie Bobby Brown has ever done. She is obviously most famous for Stranger Things, a show where she spends far too much time just mutely making weird faces and trying to look like she’s channeling psychic forces. Enola Holmes allows her to showcase a full range of acting abilities, and I was astonished at how effortlessly funny she could be. Before this, I wasn’t sure if she was a very good actor at all; by the time the credits rolled, though, I was ready for more films to cast her as the lead!
Will you agree that Enola Holmes is Netflix’s best mystery comedy, or would you rather go look for a new deerstalker hat than watch this from beginning to end? The answer to that question is elementary, my dear Watson: to find out, you just need to grab your remote and start streaming! If you like what you see, don’t forget that you can keep the mystery party rolling with Enola Holmes 2, a sequel that brings you even more of the quirkiest take on the Sherlock mythos to ever grace the small screen.