Quietly powerful. Measured, never in a hurry, I loved it. Ian McKellen and Laura Linney are utterly excellent.

As the onset of senility clouds his mind in post-war England, retired master detective Sherlock Holmes (Ian McKellen) reflects on his final case, a mystery involving a nervous husband, his wife, and her grief after a series of failed pregnancies. Holmes is sure his late colleague Dr. John Watson's streamlined, triumphant literary version of the case is wrong, but he cannot remember how or why. As he pieces together this painful chapter of his past, he also befriends Roger (Milo Parker), the wide-eyed son of his servant (Laura Linney).

Mr. Holmes is a two-tract film. On one hand, it examines memory and regret—and their relationship with aging in general—through the entertaining, audience-enticing lens of popular culture's most beloved crime solver, and there are playful references to the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle canon even if the film may prove tedious to viewers hoping for a resemblance to more hip, supercharged interpretations found recently on screens big and small. On the other hand, it recalls such films as The Go-Between and Atonement: summertime coming-of-age tales in which a conflicted adolescent discovers the complex and perilous nature of adulthood amidst posh and pastoral environments. (There is another subplot, too, involving a complicated trip by Holmes to a nuclear-devastated Japan.) There are points at which the film almost steps on its own toes, a tad overburdened with complication and timeline intricacy, but it is so handsomely mounted and poignant. The venerable McKellen delivers an intelligent, deeply inhabited performance as a great, but flawed man near the end of his life. His every gesture—a mischievous smile here, a solemn glance there—is riveting. He previously delivered arguably the finest performance of his career under the direction of Bill Condon (as openly gay horror director James Whale in Gods and Monsters), and their reunion is most welcome.

B+

I loved this. I found the pacing similar to Finding Neverland, another movie I loved. It took it's time, but I was always interested. The three main performances are fantastic. Ian McKellen deserves an Oscar nomination, if not win, for this performance.

A

The acting was good, but the film was dull. This has been a shitty year for lead actor performances, so McKellen is one of the best by default, though he certainly is very good here. But I couldn't get into it.

C

"shifty"