'Mr. Holmes': Ian McKellan gives a marvelous performance as Sherlock
The intriguing premise of 鈥淢r. Holmes,鈥� set mostly in 1947, outstrips its achievement, but it鈥檚 worth seeing anyway for its marvelous central performance. As the 93-year-old Sherlock Holmes, retired to Dover on the southeast coast of England, Ian McKellen (in his mid-70s) gives one of the most lived-in portrayals of old age I鈥檝e ever seen in the movies. Actually, he also plays Holmes here as a 63-year-old, in flashbacks, and McKellan鈥檚 then-and-now contrasts, the way his language and his body language change, are hallmarks of the actor鈥檚 art.聽
Holmes鈥檚 sidekick, Dr. Watson, has died,聽 and the great detective, who chafed at the mythology that had built up around him, is living out his days struggling to write about the circumstances of an unsolved case that sent him into retirement 30 years earlier. After an unsatisfactory trip to Japan to track down a medicinal herb he hopes will allay his dementia, he befriends (in his gruff way) the young son (the very good Milo Parker) of his gruffly dutiful housekeeper (a semi-wasted Laura Linney). 鈥淓xceptional children are often the product of unremarkable parents,鈥� he intones.聽
The script by Jeffrey Hatcher is overburdened with plot complications, but Bill Condon, who worked with McKellan on 鈥淕ods and Monsters,鈥� has a real affinity for this actor鈥檚 capabilities. He brings out his best. Grade: B (Rated PG for thematic elements, some disturbing images, and incidental smoking.)
