★★★☆☆

Mr. Holmes is a sad little movie. I don’t mean to give the impression it was poorly acted, the movie is just sad. The marketing blurb is a work of fiction in and of itself. This is the blurb which I was exposed to.

See the world’s most famous detective as you’ve never seen him before, portrayed by acting legend Ian McKellen in this ingeniously plotted suspense-thriller. For thirty years, Sherlock Holmes has been haunted by his final case, one that remains unsolved. Now, spurred by a mysterious trip to Japan, Holmes quietly slips out of retirement to confront the ghosts of his past – and a spellbinding mystery that will take all of his deductive powers to solve.

That really has very little to do with the movie. His last case was not unsolved, he just didn’t consider the outcome based on him solving it. That realization drove him into retirement and seclusion.


This is a sad little movie because we see Sherlock Holmes suffering from dementia. Anyone who is a fan of the Sherlock Holmes based tales, never wants to see him dying of old age, losing all his mental faculties.


Sherlock is supposed to die at a relatively young age fighting the good fight, not as a dithering old man writing people’s names on his shirt cuff so he can remember them.


Perhaps it is because I have watched a grandparent disappear with this disease? Maybe it is because I see other family members starting down that same horrible path? All I know is the concept of Sherlock Holmes having dementia was a major turn off. Had that been the marketing blurb I saw I would never have rented the movie.


Having vented all of that, I must say Ian McKellen does an incredible job. It was a bit unnerving hearing the voice of Gandalf come out of the actor playing Sherlock Holmes. Throughout the first half out I expected him to suddenly change into his gray wizard outfit. Given the thousands of times the Hobbit stuff has been re-run on various television networks, I won’t be the only one with that thought.


Part of this story reminded me of the television show Scorpion. Single mom with genius child she doesn’t really understand. I know that sentence threw most of you, but, when Mr. Holmes goes into seclusion way out in the country, he hires a housekeeper and she has a young son. This son happens to be a fan of Sherlock and, quite a bit like him. It reminded me a bit of Paige and her young son Ralph.


If you are a fan of the Sherlock genre I suggest you take a pass on this. If you know almost nothing about Sherlock then this would be a good movie to watch if you have parents who may one day suffer from dementia. Ian McKellen does a great job portraying the fear and frustration such people suffer when they finally realize their mind and memories, everything which made them “them” will die before they do and the end is near.

For more movie rental ideas please see list one and list two.