Sherlock Holmes & the Case of the Missing Bees

I've long been enamored with the prolific mythology surrounding one of literatures longest running heroes: Sherlock Holmes. Countless iterations across film and television have brought Holmes to life to varying degrees of success. From Basil Rathbone and Peter Cushing to Benedict Cumberbatch and Robert Downey Jr. Holmes has even been to future and fought crime alongside a robot Watson. It is a very strong and personal belief of mine that Sherlock Holmes is, in many ways, one of the original superheroes. An ordinary citizen of extraordinary skill takes the law into his own hands, complete with a sidekick and a rogues gallery of nemeses like Professor Moriarty and Lord Blackwood. Like the pulp heroes of the American Dime Novel (The Shadow, Zorro, Doc Savage), Holmes is very much an archetypical precursor to what we now envision as a "superhero." Yesterday, I had the good fortune of watching another rendition that might have become a new personal favorite of mine: Mr. Holmes (2015).

A soft-spoken but eloquent turn for the famous penny dreadful detective of Baker Street. Bill Condon grounds the adventuring super sleuth in the quiet and mundane story of a brilliant man losing his mental faculties to age. Sequestered to a cozy cottage in the countryside, a retired and senile Sherlock Holmes tends to his apiary while struggling to recollect his last case  with the help of his housekeeper’s young son. Sir Ian McKellen is simply sublime in a role that has been played by countless others. He perfectly embodies the cold, taut brilliance of Holmes but marries it with the tender vulnerability of a man slowly crossing into the final days of his life while losing his grasp on his most precious resource: his mind. Elegantly directed with a tight, flowing script that effortlessly weaves together story threads, Mr. Holmes  is captivating and soothing in its contemplative sense of calm. One of the finer renditions of the mythic hero detective I’ve yet seen.