Millie Bobby Brown has a kid with Jake Bongiovi. This isn’t a TMZ thing, I promise. It just shows how grown up she is now. So Enola Holmes has to grow up to. And for a franchise built around plucky whippersnappers, when your lead actor has a baby, there’s only one thing left to do.
And that’s throw a destination wedding! Enola’s (Millie Bobby Brown) grand Malta wedding to Lord Tewksbury (Louis Partridge) specifically. On paper this is what Enola wants, Tewksbury has been an equal partner with our detective and a crusader for rights for people since his rise to power in English Society. And yet, Enola has jitters, in part because she knows what marriage to a Lord means. But more importantly in her travel to the church, Dr. Watson (Himesh Patel) arrives to inform Enola that Sherlock (Henry Cavill) has been kidnapped, forcing Enola to change course and figure out what happened to her older brother.
Everyone has grown up here. Writer Jack Thorne probably traumatized himself writing Adolescence; the whimsy of the first couple Enola Holmes lacks the jolt of electricity the movie needs for the film to take off. Thorne tries to spice things up by changing locations. Malta does look beautiful, with multiple drone shots giving incredible views of both beautiful islands and their ancient cities. But to randomly uproot Enola from where she belongs requires a massive exposition dump and justification that weighs the movie down. It’s the main domino that sets in motion the other misjudged decision dominoes that derail our 3rd Enola Holmes caper. Thorne decides thematically the Malta movie should also dovetail with a deep dive into Tewksbury family history. While I don’t mind Louis Partridge, I’m not starting up Enola Holmes to dive into an elaborate tale of British Aristocracy dovetailing into Enola’s quest to be taken seriously. It’s square peg in round hole territory, and never quite fits the way we want, instead forcing ludicrous returns of other movie characters that make even less sense, only thankfully distracted by a killer cliffside shot of Gozo, Malta’s North Island in the big climax.
Oh, and Millie Bobby Brown of course. Enola 3 is not Millie’s fault. She’s trying her hardest to make this final installment work. She’s fully mastered the 4th wall breaking at this point. Those reaction shots work wonders conjuring just enough magic to keep me engaged for a few minutes per mugging. She’s also proven to be a pretty fun physical actress, leaning hard in this one into horse riding, chase sequences, and fire rescues, all in beautiful high society wears. Even though Enola Holmes 3 is beneath Brown’s talent, Millie clearly loves this character, and has a great time giving her what I hope is a perfectly fine swan song to go off on her new adult adventures.
Eww, sorry that sounded too skeevy. Honestly, in a dearth of live action family movies, you could do worse than Enola Holmes 3. Maltese locales and MBB proving she’s still got it is good enough for a chill weekend streamer evening. Though I must admit, no Bon Jovi closing number does hurt my feelings a little. He’s your father in law Millie! I hope you’re saving that cash in for something really special then.