Enola Holmes 2 Review: Millie Bobby Brown, Henry Cavill and Helena Bonham Carter return with a sequel high on fun, feminism and feistiness

By Vandana Srivastawa

on November 05, 2022 02:13:40 PM

Film: Enola Holmes 2

Cast: Millie Bobby Brown, Henry Cavill, Helena Bonham Carter, Louis Partridge, Susie Wokoma, Adeel Akhtar, David Thewlis, Sharon Duncan-Brewster

Director: Harry Bradbeer

OTT: Netflix

Rating: 3.5 Moons

The private detective siblings are back in a new feature, sans the skeptic one. Enola Holmes and Sherlock Holmes return in Enola Holmes 2 to solve another case high on action, suspense and drama. The new Enola Holmes movie sees our titular heroine played by Millie Bobby Brown on the brink of a full-fledged career in sleuthing as she opens her own detective agency but finds it difficult to land a case due to her gender, age and the shadow of her renowned brother, Sherlock Holmes (Henry Cavill).

Irrespective of the skepticism of the people who do not take her caliber seriously, Enola still manages to display feats of brilliance as she follows her innate curiosity, grit, guts and gumption to unmask a conspiracy and aid her older brother in solving his own case.

The film based on Nancy Springer’s series presents an alternate history of the 19^th century England. However, it does bring some amount of reality to the series as it is inspired by the real-life labour movement led by Sarah Chapman in 1888. Enola is striving hard to join the league of great detectives and be worthy of the Holmes name, thanks to her more distinguished older brother, not to mention her suffragette mother Eudora (Helena Bonham Carter) whose disappearance in the first part sparked Enola’s adventures.

Enola’s first case is handed to her by a girl called Bessie Chapman (Serranna Su-Ling Bliss) who recruits her to find her missing sister Sarah Chapman working in a matchbox factory. While solving the case Enola gets entangled in it and is wrongly accused and arrested for murder. However, she is rescued by her mother Eudoria Holmes (Helena Bonham Carter) before she is brought to gaol. Although she seems to be at sea and gets on the wrong side of the law, she eventually gets help from her brother too as the siblings realize that their cases are related and hence join forces to crack it together. Lord Viscount Tewksbury (played by Louis Partridge) turns at the right moment to lend a helping hand and fish out Enola whenever she is entangled in a net.

Millie Bobby Brown retains her spark and spontaneity that she depicted in the first film. She is quirky yet insightful, quick to action and feisty. However, some scenes are too juvenile and the makers treat the audience with somewhat less confidence in following the plot. Henry Cavill lends credible support as the older and wiser brother while Helena Bonham Carter is spunky. Louis Partridge is delightful in the scenes and reminds us that one can’t function alone all the time but need to lean on friends from time-to-time.

Enola Holmes 2 is elevated by impeccable performances of its star cast that rise above the mundane murder mystery. Director Harry Bradbeer and writer Jack Thorne do a credible job of recreating Victorian England and bringing contemporary and real-life political concerns to the films but the real winner here are the actors, not to mention the introduction of Moriarty and John Watson which teases a third part.