In the plethora of preexisting Sherlock Holmes movies, one of the freshest takes on this franchise comes in a feminine shape known as Enola Holmes in Netflix’s movies “Enola Holmes” and most recently “Enola Holmes 2” released on Oct. 27.

The charismatic teen sister of Sherlock returns for an equally adventurous, yet two-hour milked mystery, that viewers are likely to solve before the end of the movie. “Enola Holmes 2” welcomes back the beloved and matured Enola, played by Millie Bobby Brown, as she begins her very own startup detective agency, apart from any male or brotherly interference. 

After a series of failed attempts to gain clientele and continuously finding herself in the shadows of her older brother’s success, she finally receives a call for help. A mysteriously missing girl and a very worried sister is all the inspiration Enola needs to dive headfirst into the action.

Producer Harry Bradbeer creatively adapts writer Nancy Springer’s novels into a cinematic thrill ride of adventure as the audience is placed directly into the shoes of the detective. In breaking the fourth wall, Enola directly talks us through her thought processes, connecting clues to suspects and knives to murderers.

With Enola’s unorthodox wit and quirkiness shimmying her through the dangers of bad guys and prison cells, one can’t help but notice an underlying theme – feminism at its finest.

Not to say that girl power is a bad thing, heck I’m a girl too! But the piling of scenes in which females are shown to do anything boys can such as physically fighting, wearing pants and pushing away love interests, causes the film to go off track.

The plot takes another plunge with obvious leads in the investigation, bringing into question Enola’s detective skills. Though it may have been done out of attraction to younger audiences, I found myself wishing to break through the screen and give Enola some helpful hints.

The film most dutifully serves its feministic and adolescent agenda, but not without the repercussions of prolonged scenes beyond recovery — and overbearing scenes they are. So much so that it slowed down the excitement of the mystery’s chase, causing me to internally scream, “get on with it!”

Choosing to overlook this fluff helps set the plot back on course. And when two separate cases intertwine into one, the audience is rewarded with both perplexing hoodwinks and a Holmes-sibling dynamic duo.

With Enola still spearheading the hunt and keeping us up to date with her speculations, we get to see the cunningly intelligent Holmes’ collaboratively reveal deception, fight battles with close calls and use cunning intelligence rather than just brawn. 

Now here is a long awaited ending we can root for! 

Whether you’re a sleuth who fancies a slow rolling pursuit or a fast-paced quest, hopefully this will give you a clue if Enola Holmes 2 is the movie for you.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars