Enola Holmes

The first time Millie Bobby Brown looks directly into the lens and smirks, you realize this isn’t your grandfather’s Baker Street. I watched this for the first time while nursing a lukewarm bowl of leftover Thai food that I’m fairly certain had been in the fridge since the previous Tuesday, and yet, the sheer energy of Enola’s fourth-wall breaking managed to make my soggy pad thai feel like a feast at the Ritz. It’s a bold, contemporary move that feels less like a gimmick and more like a necessity in our current streaming landscape, where every film is fighting the "second screen" urge of a viewer scrolling through their phone.

Released in the thick of 2020 when theaters were shuttered and we were all desperate for a literal or figurative escape, Enola Holmes didn't just land on Netflix; it conquered it. It’s a fascinating specimen of the "streaming era" production—slick, high-budget, and anchored by a young star who isn’t just the lead, but a producer with enough industry clout to reshape a legacy IP before she’s even old enough to vote.

The Shadow of the Big Brother

The film's central mystery involves the disappearance of Eudoria Holmes (Helena Bonham Carter, channeling her inner Fight Club chaos), leaving her teenage daughter Enola to navigate a world that wants to corset her—both literally and socially. While we’ve seen a thousand iterations of Sherlock (Henry Cavill) and Mycroft (Sam Claflin), seeing them through the eyes of a sister they’ve ignored is a refreshing, if occasionally grim, perspective.

Henry Cavill plays a Sherlock who is suspiciously handsome and—controversially for the Conan Doyle Estate—possessed of actual human emotions. The estate actually sued Netflix over this, claiming that a Sherlock who cares about his sister is a version of the character still under copyright because he’s "too nice." Imagine being so iconic that having a heart is considered a legal violation. It’s a hilarious bit of real-world trivia that only adds to the film’s cult-adjacent charm. Meanwhile, Sam Claflin turns Mycroft into a bureaucratic nightmare, the personification of a rigid Victorian era that was terrified of the coming century.

A Darker Shade of Adventure

While the marketing suggests a breezy YA romp, there is an underlying intensity here that shouldn't be overlooked. The adventure is punctured by moments of genuine peril that feel heavy and consequential. When the assassin Linthorn (played with unsettling, quiet malice by Adeel Akhtar—wait, no, it's Burn Gorman, who also appeared in The Dark Knight Rises) attempts to drown Enola in a washbasin, the film shifts. The water is murky, the struggle is desperate, and for a moment, the "fun" adventure feels uncomfortably real.

This darkness is what grounds the film. It acknowledges that the stakes aren't just a missing mother or a runaway Lord (played with floppy-haired charm by Louis Partridge), but the soul of a country on the brink of the Great Reform Act. The film leans into the grit of London’s industrial underbelly—the soot, the poverty, and the violent resistance to change. It’s a "Contemporary" approach to history; it refuses to paint the Victorian era in purely nostalgic, polished tones. Instead, it highlights the friction between the elite and the marginalized, making Enola’s journey feel like a fight for survival rather than just a puzzle to solve.

The Game is Afoot (and Online)

The film has since spawned a massive online following, particularly among Gen Z viewers who see Enola as a champion of self-reliance. It’s a "cult classic" for the TikTok generation, where every costume detail and knowing glance is dissected and shared. This isn't just about the mystery; it's about the "vibes." The production design by Giles Nuttgens (who shot the gorgeous Hell or High Water) gives the film a textured, tactile quality that feels expensive. You can almost smell the old paper and the gunpowder.

Director Harry Bradbeer, coming off the success of Fleabag (another fourth-wall-breaking powerhouse), brings a rhythm to the editing that keeps the 123-minute runtime from dragging. He manages to balance the swashbuckling adventure elements—train escapes, rooftop chases, and jujitsu—with a somber meditation on what it means to be "alone" by choice versus by abandonment.

The "Enola" of the title is "alone" spelled backward, a bit of wordplay that the film treats with the weight of a Greek tragedy until Enola decides to redefine it. It’s this blend of cleverness and earnestness that makes the movie stick. It doesn't treat its audience like children, even when it’s having a bit of fun with its gadgets and disguises.

Enola Holmes is a rare breed of franchise starter that actually feels like it has something to say about our current cultural moment while wearing a 19th-century hat. It’s a film that understands its place in the streaming ecosystem—it’s fast, it’s loud when it needs to be, and it’s deeply charismatic. While the mystery itself might be a tad predictable for seasoned sleuths, Millie Bobby Brown’s performance is a powerhouse that demands your attention. It’s a journey well worth taking, even if you’re just killing five minutes before the bus.

Stuff You Might Have Missed

The jujitsu Enola uses was a real martial art called "Bartitsu," which was popular in Victorian England and specifically mentioned in the original Sherlock Holmes stories as a skill the detective possessed. The "Language of Flowers" used by Eudoria and Enola was a genuine Victorian obsession, where specific bouquets were used to send secret, often scandalous, messages. Millie Bobby Brown actually had to learn how to fight in a corset, which is arguably a more impressive stunt than anything involving a green screen. The film’s score by Daniel Pemberton (who also did Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) uses quirky, staccato instrumentation to mimic Enola’s frantic, brilliant thought process. * Despite the period setting, the film was a massive hit on mobile devices, highlighting the shift in how we consume "epic" adventure in the 2020s.