Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
“I read somewhere that all good stories begin with a wedding.”
Millie Bobby Brown may have changed her own name (Millie Bonnie Bongiovi) after marriage, but her character in Enola Holmes 3 isn’t nearly as certain she’s ready to become Enola Tewkesbury, or even whether marriage is the right step at all. Just as she reluctantly rushes to the church to exchange vows, she learns that her brother Sherlock (Henry Cavill) has gone missing, and may even have been abducted. Obviously, solving a kidnapping takes precedence over wedding frippery.
Directed by Philip Barantini (Adolescence, Boiling Point) Enola Holmes 3 opens with a shadowy sequence set inside a prison before fast-forwarding a year. The handsome young Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge) is eagerly waiting at the altar for his bride, but Enola is nowhere in sight. Dr. Watson (Himesh Patel) waylays the bride to inform her that Sherlock has gone missing, so off she goes, still dressed in her wedding gown, to gather clues and rescue her brother.
“We are siblings, but our notebooks, like our minds, are our own.”
With her brother not around to guide her, Enola cannot help but think “what would Sherlock do?” as she works on the case, but she does have a lot of help along the way. Helena Bonham Carter returns as Enola’s delightfully eccentric mother, Eudoria Holmes, while Henry Cavill’s Sherlock remains a strong player on the sidelines. Granted, the idea of the world’s greatest detective requiring his younger sister’s help feels a tad manufactured, but the film does a decent job explaining why events unfold the way they do.
The first hour of Enola Holmes 3 is solid entertainment, made visually engaging through its seaside settings in Malta, and creative graphic transitions that treat change of scenes like pop-up story books. However, the mystery loses most of its steam and momentum in the last 40 minutes, especially once the motive of the antagonists become clear. The story suddenly gets serious in its themes, turning to politics, corruption, and war crimes, which don’t convincingly mesh with the overall mood of the tale, and feel awkwardly performative.
Ironically, the best thing about Enola Holmes 3 isn’t the mystery, the action, or even the plot twists, it’s Enola and Tewkesbury. Millie Bobby Brown and Louis Partridge are ridiculously cute together, so every shared scene with the couple is a highlight. Their chemistry might make some viewers wish Enola Holmes 3 was less interested in conspiracies and more invested in showing the young couple as they navigate their romantic relationship.
Enola Holmes 3 obviously introduces several new characters, but with a tight runtime and plenty of returning faces to juggle, few of the newcomers leave much of an impression. One exception is Joe Azzopardi as Mikiel, a Maltese independence fighter, though not entirely for the right reasons. I never found him particularly convincing. Perhaps he’s meant to be comic relief, because every time he meets someone British (which is almost everyone in the film), he enthusiastically declares, “We wish to be rid of your Crown.” It was admittedly funny, but the rest of his performance doesn’t land.
Netflix should probably just turn Enola Holmes into a mystery-romance series, following the protagonist as she juggles her career as a detective with her personal life. Even though my attention wandered during the second half of Enola Holmes 3, Millie Bobby Brown remains a blast as Sherlock’s clever younger sister, bringing more emotional intelligence and heart to the screen. I’d definitely watch a part 4.
Watch Enola Holmes 3 on Netflix.
Read Next: Teach You a Lesson S1 Review: Gratifying Action-Fantasy Against Bullying
