Enola Holmes 2 (2022)

User Review

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  d_riptide

  6 / 10

  I remember giving Enola Holmes a decent score back when it first came out during the pandemic; one such case mostly elevated by the charm of its cast and simplicity in its cumbersome execution. Enola Holmes 2 has many of its previous strengths going for it….
  
  ….but a lot more of it’s hinderances.
  
  
  As expected, Millie Bobby Brown showcases all the devilish charisma that’s been missing from her in Stranger Things and the playful nature she injects into the character makes her all the more delightful. Henry Cavill and Helena Bonham Carter get double the screen time of their previous outings and make the most out of it while everyone else play it mostly straight, if not overly exaggerated.
  
  
  
  Most of the movie is competently shot boasting the same consistent amount of energy and I appreciate how quickly they get right to the setup of the film despite the bloated runtime and so-so structure complicating things. Costume and production design do the bare minimum to meet the standards of the time period despite the linearities taken, music is expressively chirpy and energetic with a lively score to boot and a direction from Harry Bradbeer that’s best to be described as…..leaden. While he has a steady handle on certain scenes, other times he’s a bit jumpy with it.
  
  
  Once again, the story’s relative simplicity and undercooked quality is made evident early on but unlike the first movie, it quickly spirals out of control and doesn’t really go away anytime soon. The plot actually takes a little bit of its story from real life; more specifically Sarah Chapman and the Match Girls Strike, a particular 19th Century health crisis that weaved in the birth of the earliest days of the Union movement along with various other issues such as gender inequality, social progress and working class revolt to name a few. Most of these themes hold somewhat of a magnifying glass over the inequities and politics of Victorian-era London and the fact that the film gives these themes the weight and time they need to manifest without sacrificing the wit and charm of everything else is a feat I can admire….even if said themes barely scratch the surface of the depth they wanted it to have.
  
  Sherlock’s integration into the story and added presence also thankfully doesn’t completely overshadow Enola’s but while the script beautifully juggles both siblings to ensure a hearty balance, it doesn’t always work for everything else. For a movie about two hours long, the fraught pacing only exasperates the litany of twists and turns and swerves and inconsistencies that one would hope to find in a sleuth movie and makes each separate beat of the story drag a little bit. Sometimes the mystery's intriguing, and sometimes it is laughable. Sometimes the interplay in the dialogue crackles, and sometimes it feels cartoonish and a little cringe. The action sequences are sometimes underdeveloped and everything from the fight scenes to the chases to the effects seem quickly edited to a jarring degree.
  
  You never get the full-scope of the on-screen action or the stunts and the lack of subsequent tension that follows the story only drives home how safe the film ends up becoming in the end despite two admittedly fine false turns.
  
  
  None of this completely stops the film from just being a passable family adventure similar to last time but here, it comes at the cost of the manner of execution that I felt the first film benefited well from. It ain’t bad; I’m still intrigued about the rest of the series going forward but I can’t say much more than that. Let it pass.

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