Mr. Holmes (2015)

Mr. Holmes (2015)

Sherlock Holmes: I've decided to write the story down; as it was, not as John made it. Get it right, before I die.
Roger: You're not going to die.
Sherlock Holmes: I'm 93.
Roger: I had a great-uncle who lived to be 102.
Sherlock Holmes: Well done. That seals my fate. What are the odds that you would know two men who would live that long?
Roger: Well, I didn't actually know him.

Mr. Holmes was, for lack of a better word, good.  It's a solid movie, with good acting and a fairly upbeat ending, but it's also kind of slow.

Ian McKellan plays Mr. Holmes in his 70s, as he works his final case, and his 90s, when he is in retirement and working to recall how the case was resolved, and why it ended his career.  It can be a bit of a downer seeing Sherlock Holmes (or anyone for that matter, but it's particularly poignant here because Sherlock always had such a keen intellect) struggle with his increasingly failing memory as he tries to remember the details of this final case.

The relationship he develops with his housekeeper's son, Roger, was the highlight for me (Laura Linney plays the hard-working and stalwart, but sometimes uptight, housekeeper).  The boy idolizes him, and Holmes appreciates the boy's intelligence and eagerness to learn, teaching him about apiary and letting him read what he is writing about the case.  What I appreciated most was that Holmes developed as a character over the course of the movie.

Even with his advancing age, and his memory problems, he grows and learns something about compassion and human nature.

It is not one I would buy, but I'd be willing to watch it again if I saw it on TV (or, in my case, Netflix).