Netflix has continued to release new movies only on their streaming platform. This one came out last week, but I waited until this week to watch their newest release, since last week I spent money to watch Antebellum. Their newest movie, Enola Holmes, was a mystery movie that had more than one mystery baked into the plot. The acting in the movie was excellent, and the breaking of the fourth wall they did worked well. This movie also continues the trend of taking a male dominated field for a certain genre and giving that role to a female instead. The movie had an exceptional cast, but did it hold up to expectations?
This movie initially focuses on Enola Holmes, Sherlock Holmes’s sister, trying to find her mother, but as the story goes on, the plot thickens. Enola encounters a young lord running away from his family and his responsibilities, because he felt like he did not fit the mold his family wanted. This turns out to become much deeper than him wanting to run away, but a member of his family wanting him dead because his ideals were too revolutionary compared to the more conservative ideals that his family member wanted to stay the status quo. There was a big focus on familial problems and a focus on the tension between those wanting continuity and those wanting change.
Millie Bobby Brown played the main role in this movie, Enola Holmes. Brown plays one of the main roles in Stranger Things, Eleven, a girl with a connection to the upside-down world. In the tv show she does an excellent job with her expressions and her ability to act as if she was encountering so many aspects of the real world for the first time. These skills transferred over nicely to this movie. In Enola Holmes, the fourth wall was broken consistently by Enola. She would either be giving explanations on her plans, what was happening, or it was her giving facial expressions to the audience about how she felt about what was happening in the movie without the other characters knowing. She did an excellent job throughout. It is hard to believe that she is only 16 years old. She seems wise beyond her years in this movie, and she even looked older than that. As she continues to grow, I would imagine she will continue to imprint her image on the field of acting for years to come. Henry Cavill was in the movie as well, he played Sherlock Holmes. He played Superman in the most recent D.C comic movies, and he definitely looks the part, but he does not seem to look like a Sherlock Holmes. He played his part well, but something about him seemed off. It might have been the fact that Sherlock Holmes has been portrayed as very eccentric and at a high level of genius, but he did not reach these standards in this movie. It might have been due to it not being a movie centered on him, so they decided not to focus on his abilities as much, but even when he was in the scenes, it did not feel like a traditional Sherlock. It did not take away from the overall movie, but knowing that he plays Superman, it did seem like he might rip off his fancy suit any minute and take off into the sky to save a person in distress.
The main theme of the movie was being yourself and being willing to do so without worrying about the repercussions that may come with it. Although it initially seemed like the movie was going to be about Enola trying to find out where her mother had gone, but it turned out that the main goal by Enola’s mother was to try and help Enola figure out who Enola was. It was essentially a coming of age story. It took place in a much earlier time period, so Enola being more tom boyish was not acceptable at this time, but as she went through the story, she decided that she did not want to be who society wanted her to be. This did not hold true for just her, but it also held true for the guy she met on the train, young Lord Tewkesbury. Enola seemed to fit more into the traditional role of a guy at the time, and Tewkesbury seemed to fit more into the role of a female at the time, or at least not the role of a traditional male at the time. He preferred to be working in the garden and did not want a role that had power in the parliament, but he did not realize if he voted for his beliefs, he would have more power to change society and give himself more freedom to be who he wanted.
Another large part of the movie came from the historical perspective of trying to get women equal rights in England. Enola’s mom was one of the main leaders of the movement, and she had a crew of others that were willing to fight alongside her. Enola was raised to be an independent woman. She was educated in a way that trained her in science, history, and martial arts. These were not typical areas of study for women at this time, and it would have been looked down upon. Enola’s brother dropped her off at a finishing school that taught girls how to act once they become young ladies and wives, but clearly Enola did not fit into this box, and she went out and helped complete her mother’s goal of getting the legislation passed that would help women be on more of an equal playing field with men. The movie also propitiated this point by not pairing Enola and Tewkesbury in a couple. There was clearly chemistry between the two characters, and in a more traditional teen rom com, these two would have ended up together, but this was not a typical film. It would not have felt right to make them a couple in the end. The whole point of the movie was that a person should be whoever they want to be and that women can do anything that men can, and that we should all be on an equal playing field.
This movie continued the trend of women taking over main roles in movies that had typically been the roles men had. For example, the Ghostbusters movie that came out five years ago with an all-female cast replacing the norm of the all men crew. There was also Ocean’s 8, a group of women replacing the typical Ocean’s 11 cast. There are other examples as well, but this trend has become popular. The problem has been that these spin offs had not been as good, no fault of the women actors in them. This movie however, having Enola take the role of Sherlock, and having her solve the mystery and save the day, was excellent. Millie Bobby Brown took control of the narrative in a masterful manner, as the lead role of actresses expand and continue to take what were once considered male only roles, if these actresses can do it as well as Bobby Brown did, then female led movies will be incredibly successful.
Netflix continues to impress recently, but I do fear the run is coming to an end soon when Adam Sandler’s new Halloween movie comes out, but there might be some preconceived bias there on my part. The actors and actresses in this movie did an exceptionally well job. There was an excellent contrast between the Sherlock brothers, Sherlock starting out having a more conservative mind set, but he was able to grow and adapt to the times well, where as Mycroft was stuck in the past and refused to grow. Enola’s character had a great backstory, and she carried the story excellently throughout. The themes of this movie: equality and being yourself no matter what, are two themes that always hold up well, especially if the story supporting them is executed well, which this one was. I gave this movie an 85. I ranked it above I’m Thinking of Ending Things, and I kept it below Palm Springs. This puts it in second place for 2020. I am hoping I will find something soon that will replace Palm Springs at the top spot for this year soon.
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