Redundant and unnecessary.

It is a performances centric movie

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

And oddly depressive film featuring the great Ian MacLennan and Laura Linney. Not forgetting the child actor, Milo. All doing their very best with a plot that is tedious with the added bonus of making old age, even for the brilliant Sherlock, a hideous business indeed.Add to that two uninteresting and meandering flashbacks, the hook of Holmes's faltering memory not capturing the resolution to a case that haunts him (a glove, a letter) and it all adds up to quite a yawn.The pointless emotional maneuvering of the 3rd act, really destroyed the whole film for me and then Sherlock on his knees in the meadow with stones for this dead ones, no this was not the Sherlock I adored all through those books and films.4 out of 10, quite disappointing but the cinematography and sets were lovely.

My first attempt at watching this movie never got off the ground, so I sort of wrote it off as not worth it. Later another opportunity came along, so I decided to give it a second chance. I must say that as the movie progressed it drew me in more & more. As the ending neared, the story felt so real & heartwarming...this made me very glad that I had decided to watch it after all.

I had my doubts about MR. HOLMES when I saw that it was based on a book by an American novelist and had a screenplay by an American writer. I've nothing against our American cousins, but when I sat down and watched the movie my worst fears were confirmed: although the film occasionally plays lip service to the works of Conan Doyle, this is utterly unlike any kind of Sherlock Holmes I've seen before. I didn't recognise him. It's like some American literary novelist's idea of what Holmes should be rather than an attempt to connect with the great man himself. And I know for a fact that there are American pastiche authors whose work will be forever ignored by Hollywood who can write much better Holmes than the one depicted here.The film's idea is to posit Holmes as an elderly man in his final years. The slow-moving narrative mixes together three separate story lines, two from his past and one set in the present day. And the problem with this film? It's so slow! Everything is dragged out to the most minute detail and none of it is interesting, at all. Ian McKellen is a good actor - although Bill Condon is a bit lazy, making almost exactly the same kind of film as his GODS AND MONSTERS from a couple of decades ago - but he doesn't play Holmes here, just some kind of wise old man.Each of the stories has flaws and faults. I was primarily interested in seeing Hiroyuki Sanada (one of my favourite actors) in the Japanese storyline, but it's very weak and simplistic and Sanada only shows up in a couple of scenes. The main mystery back story is depressing and unlike any of the cases that the literary Holmes investigated. The present day stuff is better, but the kid is annoyingly wise and chirpy, and Laura Linney's presence is a big distraction given her awful accent, which is all over the place. Overall, MR. HOLMES is a real bore, something that none of the original stories and few of the earlier adaptations were.

The opening scene of Mr. Holmes is affecting, quirky and memorable, albeit in a quiet and subtle way. It's a portent of things to come. As one would expect with a film with Sherlock Holmes as the title character, off-hand utterances and seemingly random, passing moments are pregnant with meaning and possibilities that are not apparent at first, or even third glance. Not, that is, unless you happen to have (super) powers of observation, which Mr. Holmes does, in excess. The comment made in this opening scene refers to bees and wasps... specifically their ongoing contentious relationship in nature. It all comes back around in the end, after a quietly rollicking, tender and affecting story which outlines the later winter of a cleverly hybridized version of the life of this famous detective.Everything about this production is top notch, from the writing and acting to the cinematography, set design and costumes. It's Ian McKellen's performance that centers the entire thing though, like a sun centers a solar system... with gravity and brilliance. Of course, you pretty much expect genius level work from an actor like McKellen but seeing him in action here is a sublime pleasure. Some actors make acting look easy. McKellen is one of the rare actors that makes you forget he's acting and transports you to a dimension of total immersion where you really feel like you're a fly on the wall of these characters' lives. Everyone around him is also superb here, especially his three main co-stars, Laura Linnney, Hattie Morahan and Milo Parker, who plays Roger, the young son of his housekeeper and steals many of the scenes here. Holmes and Roger forge a genuine and touching friendship that in many ways is the heart of the film. Many actors, I'm sure, would be a bit frazzled by the prospect of trying to keep up with a thespian of such legendary stature and renown, but Milo Parker seems to take it in stride and gives as good as he gets. It's fun to watch.Also, as you would expect in any story about Sherlock Holmes, there is a great mystery... accentuated by Mr. Holmes' advancing age and the mental decline that sometimes accompanies the process of growing older. It's a great dramatic device that the screenwriter employs expertly. The dialogue is witty, understated, intelligent and also echoes the mystery as it unfolds. The story folds back in on itself and jumps through the looking glass in a couple of interesting ways, with Holmes here being an amalgam version of his fictional self married to an alternate universe version where he is an actual historical figure, who has been immortalized in story form by Watson. We are treated to Sherlock Holmes standing in line for and then attending a filmed version of one of his real cases, that has been fictionalized then projected on a screen while he watches... in order to help stir his memory of the real case. Wow.Fair warning - this is a quiet and somewhat "slow" film. It's never boring though. If you are into explosions, car chases, loud music, etc. in your cinematic fare, you won't find it here. What you WILL find is top notch writing and acting. This is a film for people who love movies that make them think and feel deeply. It's not confusing or hard to follow, but you do need to pay attention since things that seem like small insignificant details, end up being crucial to the overall narrative and where the characters end up. It's an exceptional piece of work and one of the best films of 2015.