There weren’t a lot of bright spots in 2020, especially at the movies. One of them, was Enola Holmes, with Millie Bobby Brown playing Sherlock’s kid sister: just a delight of a romp combining a Sherlock Holmes story with a girlpower anthem. The sequel is as delightful as the first, using the formula and tweaking it just enough that it doesn’t quite feel like a total retread.
Last we left Enola (Millie BB), she was starting up her own detective agency in London. However, no one trusts her to do the job since she shares the same last name as her more popular brother Sherlock (Henry Cavill). Before she closes her agency, Enola takes one last case from Bessie (Serrana Su-Ling Bliss) a very young orphaned “match girl” exploited for factory work, looking for Bessie’s older sister Sarah. That search, as one might expect, opens a hornets’ nest, bringing Enola into the orbit of police like Lestrade (Adeel Akhtar) and Grail (David Thewlis), and perhaps even into her big brother’s case, which has him flummoxed at the moment.
With that “2” at the end, it’s important for Enola Holmes’s tale to evolve in some way, otherwise the movies will become very stale, very quickly. Harry Bradbeer and Jack Thorne drew inspiration from real life on this one. Sarah Chapman was an early crusader for gender equality and workers’ rights, leading a strike and forming the first all female union, an all around amazing woman. Sarah’s disappearance drives Enola Holmes 2, and gives the movie an extra bit of heft and stakes as the story goes along without being overly preachy, a tricky line the filmmakers pull off. On the Enola front, the first film was all about how Enola could carve a path for herself, or have her path dictated to her. Enola has internalized those lessons from her mom (Helena Bonham Carter), which on the surface is mostly good, because she makes her life her own. However, the sequel points out the downsides of only living by that creed: it isolates you, and makes you vulnerable to enemies and more importantly, sadness at being alone. This forces Enola to look at people in her life like Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge) through a different lens, learning to rely and trust in people she cares about to push for the greater good, which in turn, dovetails nicely with the Sarah Chapman history lesson. Much like a Sherlock case, Bradbeer and Thorne weave together a nice little extension of Enola Holmes’s growing tapestry with the 2nd installment, evolving and growing the story to keep the audience engaged and excited for where we go next.
It also helps when you don’t have to worry about your star at all. Millie Bobby Brown couldn’t be more perfectly cast as Enola, and the evolution of Enola’s character dovetails nicely with the life Millie Bobby Brown has chosen to lead herself. She’s as confident and independent as ever, retaining that whimsy and charm incarnate in the actress. Being a bit older now, Bobby Brown proves she can handle the romcom parts of her movie as well; only Millie could make a bathroom waltz lesson simmer with romantic tension. The supporting players in Enola Holmes 2 have also stepped their game up like MBB. Henry Cavill and Helena Bonham Carter switch roles here, with Cavill having a more prominent role and Carter a side character. Both are still having a blast, with Cavill getting to show off the brains/charisma with his braun and Carter involved in maybe the movie’s biggest action sequence. Louis Partridge makes for an intriguing “Watson” to Enola, establishing a prickly but silly chemistry with Millie Bobby Brown, that can become a little swoon worthy the minute both are at a ball together. Newcomers David Thewlis and Sharon Duncan-Brewster bring a different necessary energy to the movie too, with Brewster giving the movie a little mystery and Thewlis using his natural unnerving still menace to make for a nice imposing law enforcement figure.
Every piece above works to just make you smile for 2 straight hours. Enola Holmes 2 proves there’s all sorts of life left in this character and franchise, with some mid credits reveals giving us a fun tease for the third film. As long as Millie Bobby Brown is at the center, I’m fairly certain Enola is a character I’m going to enjoy spending time with again and again. That is, until the inevitable Superman vs. Eleven crossover everyone wants to see.