An aged Sherlock is seen trying to remember different parts of his life and the final case that stopped him from taking on anymore. But will we ever know exactly how it all ended?
After watching the current BBC series of Sherlock a few months ago and becoming consumed with it I was even more excited to see this film. Ian McKellen is an incredible actor and this role really does push himself to different limits in this film. We are used to seeing him still moving around so incredibly as Gandalf and even Magneto, so to see him take on a very dramatic role is pleasing.
I will admit though that I did find the film to be very slow at the beginning, it took a long time for it to get going and the story of that possible unsolved case. It teases you quite a few times before we get into that story. But also another story is going on as well as we have seen that Holmes had visited Japan very recently. Not forgetting his relationship with young Roger and the bees. Yes I do realize how strange all of that sounds, but I can understand the slowness to build up all of these things, and show how they intertwined with each other.
Everyone knows the character of Sherlock Holmes and what a great mind he had being able to use logic and piece things together a lot quicker than your average person. So for that character to be taken into extreme old age struggling with memory loss was very heartbreaking to watch. Trying to write a story down in hope to jog his memory and remember what happened to that beautiful woman in the photograph that for some reason he still had in a book.
We don’t get any of the other characters we know, we actually hear that they have all passed away, some quite recently. Watson gets plenty of mentions mainly because of the different books and stories. They way he has created Holmes and how he actually differs from the man himself. I do admit I thought the references to his hat were very amusing, especially with an old man being very un-amused by it all.
While his mind may be slowly going and forgetting the most recent events this has not stopped his gift of being able to work things out. Which again is something that you want to see in a Sherlock Holmes film. So I think that even though it had a slow start, I did enjoy the performances and a different side to Holmes. Another good chapter for such a good character in another different way. Have to obviously mention how good Robert Downey Jr. is in the quite recent films.
Laura Linney took on a very good part as the housekeeper who constantly clashes with Holmes. Not forgetting her very good and convincing British accent. I think she also showed a very different type of role to her usual. Milo Parker in a breakout role as Roger and worked very well with McKellen in the many scenes they shared. Brilliant performances from the whole cast which really makes the film.
