A passable film at its best, and troubling at its worst, Enola Holmes is a messy example of how to make a mind-numbing, entertaining popcorn flick. Equipped with a lightning fast pace and some impressive acting, director Harry Bradbeer's latest attempts to be a grandiose feminist epic, but it comes up short. The message is there, but as Bradbeer and screenwriter Jack Thorne, consistently talk down to the audience, the message ends up being lost (not to mention the casual forgiveness of domestic terrorism). A fictional tale which tackles a young woman growing up during the height of England's woman's suffrage reform bill, Enola Holmes does some good things, but at the end of it all it is just another spoon-fed sleuth picture.
Enola (Millie Bobby Brown), the younger sister of famed super-detective Sherlock Holmes (Henry Cavill), lives a perfect life. Growing up in a large estate with just her mother, Eudoria (Helena Bonham Carter), Enola learns everything from chemistry to self-defense, and most importantly, individualism and independence. One day Enola awakens to find her mother missing and sends for her brothers Sherlock and Mycroft (Sam Claflin). As they arrive back home for the first time in years, Mycroft arranges for Enola to attend a female boarding school, in order to become a "proper" woman. Trying to avoid this at all costs, Enola runs away to London in search for her mother. Along the way, she links up with a young lord by the name of Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge), and another mystery unravels.
The film starts out very promising. Brown does a fantastic job as Enola, and her consistent breaking of the fourth wall is engaging. The bones are laid out here for a thrilling mystery: Enola goes to London to see what her mysterious mother is up to, with Sherlock Holmes hot on her tail. However, it is about a quarter of the way through when the plot completely shifts focus and becomes too much to handle in a two-hour motion picture. The plot aside, Bradbeer does a wonderful job with pacing and the overall scope of the film in general. Big action scenes and fighting sequences seem well choreographed and executed.
Enola is smart and more than capable to hold her own in London, especially during a turbulent time when England's elite are trying to keep the government the way it is. The story seems to take a "good overcoming evil" approach when addressing the fight for reform, and this is where the most head-scratching decision is made. Without spoiling anything, the evil approach presented in this film is truly a diabolical plot. Instead of ostracizing and repressing these ideals, Bradbeer makes the decision to not even address the issue, puzzlingly forgiving it.
Enola Holmes is worth the viewers' time only if they are in the mood for a mindless detective thriller. They will never be lost; the complete lack of subtle writing will make sure of that, but the film is entertaining, nonetheless. The acting alone is enough to warrant a sequel, one that would probably be pretty good under the confines of a more structured story. Ultimately, the movie just tries to squeeze in too much, and some mind-boggling directorial decisions hamper what could have been a fitting ending.