Enola Holmes 2 (2022)

Score: F (5.5/10)

Once it stops stubbing its toe, Enola Holmes shows off a good bit of action and mystery amidst its questionable and genre-bending subplots, making it nearly devoid of a true detective mystery flic.

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Upon watching Enola Holmes, I noted its lack of popularity despite offering an innovative and societally accurate story. This is likely down to its release in the year that was 2020. However, it may also be due to the film’s forgettable plot. The story is mired by uninteresting dialogue that only fluffs out the runtime, which is a shame when its themes and messages have so much potential. Luckily for Enola Holmes 2, it doubles down on the themes and messages from its precursor despite having varying levels of success.

When it comes to a detective mystery, the sequel nails it. The clues are evenly placed throughout the film and between character-focused sequences, making the reveal towards the end well worth the wait. The reveal also comes with an entertaining action sequence to stop the antagonists. Sherlock and Enola are as, if not more, enjoyable by themselves and as a duo than in the first movie. Tewkesbury is even a righteous and mature politician, allowing him to be seen as a MAN.

Unfortunately, that’s everything going in the movie’s favor, as numerous plot points are incomprehensible and near-frustrating, depending on your life experiences. Too often, movies fail at string instrumental representation due to incorrect posture and failing to follow the music playing in the background. It also does the “true love” teen romance subplot seen endless times by now despite the world having many teenagers, including my current and former selves, unaware of the definition of love with non-familial and non-platonic partners. There are also too many times in the movie where I’d question what was occurring because it failed to explain what was on screen. The film also acts like it wants to focus on numerous other plot details, like Sherlock and the mysteries, but can’t because it’s an Enola Holmes movie.

I wanted to enjoy Enola Holmes 2 because of its exciting action and mysteries. After all, Enola and Sherlock are a thrilling detective duo once they put their heads and cases together. However, almost every other aspect misses the same enjoyment and sometimes fails to provide understandable plot details. The only outcome for the “franchise” from here on out is a Henry Cavill Sherlock Holmes movie because the ending hints at such. It stinks when Enola Holmes and Enola Holmes 2 had so much potential but managed to drop the ball with a cohesive plot to coincide with its solid story. However, I’m glad there were favorable benefits from watching the two films. I hope Enola Holmes 2 has a more lasting impression than its precursor did in the years to come, despite its predominant drawbacks, because it deserved so much better than the resulting movie it is seen as.