Review: Ian McKellen plays ageing Sherlock Holmes in new film Mr Holmes

REVIEW: THE Guinness Book of World Records lists Sherlock Holmes as the “most portrayed movie character” of all-time. How does Ian McKellen fare?

Mr. Holmes (M)

Director: Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters)

Starring: Ian McKellen, Laura Linney, Milo Parker, Hiroyuki Sanada, Hattie Morahan.

Rating: ***1/2

Not so elementary, and all the better for it

The Guinness Book of World Records lists Sherlock Holmes as the “most portrayed movie character” of all-time.

Since his screen debut in the 1900 short Sherlock Holmes Baffled, author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendarily hyper-deductive detective has been played by 75 actors in over 200 films.

The highest recommendation that can be made of the new British production Mr Holmes is that the great actor Ian McKellen delivers one of the finest and most focused portrayals of old Sherlock ever attempted.

Ian McKellen as Sherlock Holmes, in a scene from the film Mr Holmes.

In fact, you can take that “old Sherlock” and raise it to a “very old Sherlock”.

For in this stately adaptation of author Mitch Cullin’s 2005 novel A Slight Trick of the Mind, McKellen’s Sherlock Holmes is 93 years old.

Age has not wearied this Sherlock. Not physically, at least.

JONNY AND LUCY: Should Elementary’s sexy stars hook up?

ONE MORE TIME: Ian McKellen on playing Gandalf

It is 1947, and Holmes has just returned home from a long and arduous trip to Japan, where he has topped up his private supply of a life-preserving plant known as prickly ash.

The Holmes HQ is located just near the famous white cliffs of Dover, on a small patch of land where he does little else but tend to his beloved bees.

Old stager ... Ian McKellen plays Sherlock Holmes.

Aside from his honey-making friends, Sherlock’s only company is Mrs Munro (Laura Linney), a rather stern housekeeper, and her inquisitive young son, Roger (Milo Parker).

Always self-analytical to a fault, Holmes can sense his renowned intellect could be on the wane.

As if to revive his fading powers of perception, Sherlock turns his mind back to the case which brought about his retirement almost three decades ago.

The finer details of this mystery are best left unmentioned here. However, it is no spoiler to reveal that it marked a rare occasion where Holmes forensic grasp of human nature could not prevent him from making a slip which may haunt him to his grave.

The bulk of Mr Holmes sees Sherlock revisiting this fateful case in flashback, looking for that one elusive clue he missed the first time around.

While the directorial style of veteran Bill Condon (coming off a fudged Julian Assange biopic and a Twilight series tour of duty) does sometimes stray towards the vanilla, the many flavours injected into the film by McKellen’s fearless, focused performance more than compensates for any shortfalls.

The other factor to Mr Holmes that will keep interested viewers leaning forward is how the film sets about breaking ranks with the conventional Sherlock formula.

The rueful, reflective tone of the story - and the conspicuous absence of familiar running mates such as the dutiful Doctor Watson - places this affecting take on the Holmes myth well away from those fronted by the likes of Robert Downey Jr, (and on the smaller screen) Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller.

Originally published as Review: Ian McKellen plays ageing Sherlock Holmes in new film Mr Holmes