When I hear the word 'detective', the first name that always comes to my mind is 'Sherlock Holmes'. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's great sleuth is without a doubt the most celebrated and renowned fictional detective of all time. Naturally we have had a lot of screen adaptations of this famed character in cinema as well as on television. Great actors through the decades have portrayed this character. We've had portrayals by Basil Rathbone, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Jeremy Brett(my favourite Holmes), Robert Downey Jr., Benedict Cumberbatch to name a few. But this new portrayal of the character in 'Mr. Holmes' by Sir Ian McKellen is a very unique and interesting one. It is different from the other portrayals that I mentioned above. The stylish, brilliant and charismatic Holmes gets replaced by an aged and weary Sherlock Holmes who is battling memory loss triggered by senility instead of criminals and murderers. Laura Linney, Hattie Morahan, Hiroyuki Sanada and Milo Parker make up the rest of the cast.
Probably the most admirable aspect of this film is the fact that I believed in Ian McKellen's Holmes. I actually believed that Sherlock Holmes in his old age will probably act and behave in the way McKellen portrays him. A man who was celebrated for his cerebral capabilities will find it immensely difficult to cope with old age and the memory loss that comes along with it and probably even more so than the rest of us. The screenplay by Jeffrey Hatcher is based on the book 'A Slight Trick of the Mind' by Mitch Cullin. It has a non-linear pattern as we follow three time lines. The direction by Bill Condon is very good and the transition from one time line to the next in the non-linear screenplay is seamless and Condon never allows that to confuse the viewer.
This is one of the best Ian McKellen performances I have seen. He is pretty much flawless. He plays Holmes in his 90s as well as in his 70s and the distinctions in his physicality while playing these respective versions are very apparent. The Holmes in his 70s is a little more upright, more active and more verbally eloquent. While in his 90s, McKellen gives the character a slightly hunched posture and a somewhat blank facial appearance. Apart from the physical transformations, McKellen expertly gets under the skin of this character and brings some heart, charm and likability that is undeniable. We helplessly feel sorry for this man trying to cope with his deteriorating health. Holmes in this film desperately tries to ward off his memory loss by using 'Royal Jelly' or the Japanese 'Prickly Ash'. This desperate attempt by Holmes to stay relevant in his own eyes reminded me to some extent of Woody Grant's attempt to stay relevant in the film 'Nebraska' by actually believing that he had won a big lottery which will win him a lot of money. Laura Linney, the young Milo Parker and Hattie Morahan are all very good too.
The theme of the film basically dealt with Holmes' transition from being a professional detective driven solely by logic to an old man who finally realises the virtues of kindness and care and actually comes to identify how he has benefited from the kindness showered on him by people around him including his old friend and colleague John Watson. The whole concept of an old man becoming friends with a kid and evolving because of it is not new. But Bill Condon's direction and Sir Ian McKellen's acting made me believe in the chemistry between Holmes and Roger.
The makeup work on McKellen was fantastic. He looked like a believable 90 year old. The cinematography is good. Condon uses picturesque wide angle shots of the ravishing greenery of the English countryside. The production design is good for the most part except for a brief spell when Holmes spends some time in Japan. Unfortunately Japan looked a little too much like England. Another minor flaw for me was the dialogue in one or two scenes which felt a little artificial like when Laura Linney's character talks about the kid Roger's father.
So overall this is a very charming film with a good screenplay, good direction and great acting. The film humanises the character of Sherlock Holmes in a unique way without diminishing his brilliance as a detective. People who love the Holmes stories and the different adaptations of the characters will love this, and people who aren't big fans of the character will probably find this film impressive too.
