(L to R) Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Natasha McElhone and Dónal Finn in Prime Video’s ‘Young Sherlock.’ Photo: Dan Smith.
You may be frustrated waiting for a third ‘Sherlock Holmes’ movie from filmmaker Guy Ritchie (at this point, you really shouldn’t hold your breath), but he’s no doubt hoping to tide you over with a new ‘Young Sherlock’ that spins the clock back to the detective’s days at college
Script and Direction
(L to R) Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Colin Firth and Max Irons in Prime Video’s ‘Young Sherlock.’ Photo: Daniel Smith.
Series creator Matthew Parkhill has found a decent basis for the new series, seeing him team up with an equally fresh-faced James Moriarty, and spinning a tale of the Holmes family that forms part of the mystery.
Directorially, Ritchie brings something of his Sherlock-focused movies to the style of the show, though it also settles down from time to time.
Cast and Performances
Joseph Fiennes in Prime Video’s ‘Young Sherlock.’ Photo: Daniel Smith.
Hero Fiennes Tiffin is a solid Sherlock, though sometimes overshadowed by co-stars Dónal Finn and Zine Tseng.
Tiffin at least escapes concerns of nepo baby casting, providing some charm and wit to the role, even if the family history angle isn’t completely helped by the addition of his uncle, Joseph Fiennes, playing his father. As his mother, meanwhile, Natascha McElhone is a little sidelined to begin with, but has a chance to shine later.
If there’s one performer with a reason to complain, it’s Colin Firth, who for the most part is reduced to being a blowhard, officious type you can tell is up to no good.
Final Thoughts
(L to R) Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Zine Tseng and Dónal Finn in Prime Video’s ‘Young Sherlock.’ Photo: Dan Smith.
The new show might not really satiate those looking for the combination of Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law and the visual trickery of Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock outings, but one out of three isn’t too bad.
And if we truly must have a Sherlock Holmes prequel, at least it has some spirit and offers decent entertainment value.
‘Young Sherlock’ receives 68 out of 100.
(L to R) Max Irons and Natasha McElhone in Prime Video’s ‘Young Sherlock.’ Photo: Dan Smith.
What’s the plot of ‘Young Sherlock’?
‘Young Sherlock’ follows the origin story of the beloved detective in an explosive re-imagining of this iconic character’s early days. Sherlock Holmes is a disgraced young man –– raw and unfiltered –– when he finds himself wrapped up in a murder case that threatens his liberty.
Who stars in ‘Young Sherlock’?
Hero Fiennes Tiffin as Sherlock Holmes
Zine Tseng as Princess Gulun Shou’an
Dónal Finn as James Moriarty
Joseph Fiennes as Silas Holmes
Natascha McElhone as Cordelia Holmes
Colin Firth as Sir Bucephalus Hodge
Max Irons as Mycroft Holmes
Hero Fiennes Tiffin in Prime Video’s ‘Young Sherlock.’ Photo: Dan Smith.
(L to R): Hero Fiennes Tiffin and Dónal Finn in Prime Video’s ‘Young Sherlock.’ Photo: Dan Smith.
Preview:
The first images from Prime Video’s ‘Young Sherlock’ series are online.
Hero Fiennes Tiffin is playing the younger take on the sleuth.
Guy Ritchie is the main director and executive producer.
He may not have been able to bring us a third outing of the ‘Sherlock Holmes’ movies that saw Robert Downey Jr. as the famous detective and Jude Law as faithful sidekick Dr. Watson yet (not for want of trying), but director Guy Ritchie is at least keeping the door to Holmes open via a new Prime Video series that turns the clock back to the younger days of the character.
(L to R): Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Natasha McElhone and Dónal Finn in Prime Video’s ‘Young Sherlock.’ Photo: Dan Smith.
‘Young Sherlock’ follows the origin story of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s beloved detective in an explosive re-imagining of this iconic character’s early days. Sherlock Holmes is a disgraced young man –– raw and unfiltered –– when he finds himself wrapped up in a murder case that threatens his liberty.
His first ever case unravels a globe-trotting conspiracy that changes his life forever. Unfolding in 1870s Oxford and adventuring abroad, the series will expose the early antics of the anarchic adolescent who is yet to evolve into Baker Street’s most renowned resident.
Here’s what Ritchie had to say when the show was announced:
“In ‘Young Sherlock’ we’re going to see an exhilarating new version of the detective everyone thinks they know in a way they’ve never imagined before. We’re going to crack open this enigmatic character, find out what makes him tick, and learn how he becomes the genius we all love.”
Who else is appearing in the new show?
(L to R): Max Irons and Natasha McElhone in Prime Video’s ‘Young Sherlock.’ Photo: Dan Smith.
Colin Firth in ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
Preview:
Colin Firth has been cast in a series about Sherlock Holmes younger days.
Hero Fiennes Tiffin is leading the cast, with Joseph Fiennes, Natascha McElhone and Zine Tseng also aboard.
Guy Ritchie is producing the series.
If you’re a frustrated fan of Guy Ritchie’s ‘Sherlock Holmes’ movie duo (which starred Robert Downey Jr. as the title character and Jude Law as sidekick Doctor Watson), the wait for an oft-talked-about, but not-yet-made third entry still rankles.
So perhaps you’ll be happy to lean that the director has since pivoted in a new ‘Holmes’ direction, setting up a young Sherlock series. The show now counts ‘Kingsman’ veteran Colin Firth among its cast. And no, it has nothing to do with 1985’s Barry Levinson movie about the character’s younger days.
The new show, picked up by Prime Video, will adapt Andy Lane’s ‘Young Sherlock Holmes’ book series. Eight books were published between 2010 and 2015, which means plenty of potential storylines.
Lane’s books follow a teenage Holmes in the 1860s and 1870s and are officially described as “the action-packed origin story of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s beloved detective in an explosive re-imagining of this iconic character. At age 19, Sherlock Holmes is disgraced, raw, unfiltered, and unformed, when he finds himself caught up in a murder mystery at Oxford University which threatens his freedom. Diving into his first-ever case with a wild lack of discipline, Sherlock manages to unravel a globe-trotting conspiracy that will change his life forever.”
Here’s what Ritchie had to say when the show was announced:
“In ‘Young Sherlock’ we’re going to see an exhilarating new version of the detective everyone thinks they know in a way they’ve never imagined before. We’re going to crack open this enigmatic character, find out what makes him tick, and learn how he becomes the genius we all love.”
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Who Will Appear in the ‘Young Sherlock’ Series?
Hero Fiennes Tiffin in ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’. Photo: Daniel Smith.
Joseph Fiennes –– yes, Hero’s uncle –– will be Silas Holmes, Sherlock’s father, who is described as a scientist, explorer and self-made businessman. Natascha McElhone will play Cordelia Holmes, his devoted mother, artist and matriarch of the Holmes clan.
Zine Tseng has an unannounced role, while Firth will play a character named Sir Bucephalus Hodge; details on the character have yet to be announced. We’re going to go with either wise mentor or utter cad, and honestly, we’d love to see Firth break bad.
In addition to Ritchie (who is so far listed as an executive producer but will likely direct at least a few episodes), the show has Matthew Parkhill, writer of small screen dramas such as ‘Deep State’ and ‘Rogue’ on board to write and run it.
When will the ‘Young Sherlock’ Series Premiere?
Prime Video has not yet announced when the show might arrive.
(L to R) Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law in 2011’s ‘Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.’
On Netflix beginning May 12, ‘The Mother’ is the streaming service’s latest attempt to add to the action thriller genre, though even the mother-daughter relationship at its core and some other tweaks aren’t quite enough to overcome a rote, bland script and uninspired direction.
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What’s the story of ‘The Mother’?
12 years ago, an unnamed woman (Jennifer Lopez) is being questioned by the FBI in a safe house that soon becomes anything but.
She’s been brought in because she has connections to a couple of violent arms dealers –– Joseph Fiennes’ Adrian and Gael García Bernal’s Hector –– whose trade she helped facilitate but got out when she discovered they were also trafficking children.
Oh, and she’s pregnant with a daughter by one of them. But when the attempt to protect her goes violently wrong, she’s left with little choice but to give the newborn up to foster care and relocate to the wilds of Alaska, lest her old suitors track her or the child down and finish their vengeful mission.
But wouldn’t you know it? 12 years later, Hector does end up finding the kid (Zoe, played by Lucy Paez) and The Mother will have to employ all the sniper and other skills she picked up in the military and working with the two baddies in order to save the girl –– and herself.
Cue a cat-and-mouse chase that stretches from suburban Ohio to the harsh wilderness up north (where The Mother has something of a home field advantage despite the resources of her enemies).
Since breaking into acting back in 1986 (and breaking out thanks to the likes of ‘Selena’ and ‘Out of Sight’), Jennifer Lopez has consistently proved to be one of the more chameleonic of music performers-turned-actors. She’s switched between frothy rom-coms (‘Maid in Manhattan’, ‘The Wedding Planner’, ‘Monster-in-Law’) and drama (‘Enough’, ‘The Boy Next Door’) and more knockabout romps such as this year’s ‘Shotgun Wedding’. And there have been the prestige stops along the way, including the well-received ‘Hustlers’ and ‘Shall We Dance’.
‘The Mother’, though, finds her looking to get into more of an action sphere (a territory she’s only occasionally trodden before), and unfortunately the results feel like a watered-down version of something like ‘Taken’.
While the idea of a tough mother taking down the villains threatening her and her child is certainly a compelling one, what actually unspools falls far short of truly entertaining.
Lopez certainly throws herself into the role, making for a convincing former military sniper and all-round bad ass who is suddenly in a situation she always wanted but never got the chance to train for: motherhood.
Similarly, Paez manages to have Zoe evolve from whiny teen to something more like the birth mother she’s never met until she gets kidnapped by one of the villains.
That’s a road the movie keeps taking, almost the distraction: how many times can it put Zoe in trouble, requiring The Mother (she really is never properly named) to step in and do her thing. Hardwick, as her main FBI contact, at least has a few scenes that offer him more than just grunting broad, heard-it-before dialogue.
The actual villain characters –– especially poor old Bernal –– are completely underserved, stock characters who see little in terms of development. Bernal’s role (which feels like it was sliced down) amounts to a brief moment at the start and then one scene in the middle of the movie. Filmmakers like to argue that they cast great actors to bring life to small roles, but with a part as tiny as Bernal’s, it would take a miracle to resuscitate it at all .
Likewise, Edie Falco, who shows up at the start to deliver some exposition and look haughty, then is never seen again. That’s not “bringing to life” a small role, that’s a giant waste of her time, and the sort of character that even back in the 1990s, ‘Austin Powers’ was making fun of.
Fiennes has a little more to chew on, Adrian handed some bigger scenes up front then treated as the main villain through the final act. He also has much more motivation for his vengeful feelings towards The Mother.
A knocked-off, less-than-thrilling impact effects the rest of the movie almost to the same degree, despite a script credited to three experienced writers (Misha Green of ‘Lovecraft Country’, ‘The Town’s Peter Craig and ‘Blood Father’s Andrea Berloff).
Aside from a couple of effective set-pieces (Lopez stalking through a darkened compound, taking out henchmen with silenced weapons, and a few moments from the big finale in Alaska), the action is largely on the average scale, lacking the sort of truly dynamic, inventive stunt work of, say, ‘Atomic Blonde’ or anything from the ‘John Wick’ series.
And indeed, with tracks from Massive Attack, Portishead and Kate Bush, the movie itself feels like a throwback to 1980s and 1990s action thrillers, for good and ill.
Given director Niki Caro’s background in indie movies, the new effort doesn’t exactly boast much of a creative sensibility that stamps it with much of an identity. It could be a hundred other movies –– Netflix itself produced ‘Lou’, which starred Allison Janney as a former CIA/military type with a particular set of skills who has to help a mother/daughter duo when they’re targeted by someone violent. That at least had the benefit of more time and effort taken with both the lead character and the others.
Final Thoughts
‘The Mother’ is being pitched as a Mother’s Day release, but unless you know that many mothers and daughters who bond over watching Liam Neeson movies or the ‘Wick’ films, this seems unlikely to have wide appeal. And even if they do, there are other, better examples out there.
“The Handmaid’s Tale” star Joseph Fiennes has signed on to accompany his cousin, the legendary adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, on a quite a journey. The two will head down the Nile River in Egypt for an upcoming three-part National Geographic docuseries, Deadline reports. Called “Fiennes: Return to the Nile,” It’s a homecoming of sorts for Ranulph, who first explored the area 50 years ago, early in his career.
It should be exciting. The Fiennes cousins will both be put to the test. Joseph will be trying to hack it as an adventurer for the first time, while Joseph will be recreating a trip five decades after the fact. Nat Geo has teased that they’ll face tombs and frightening creatures.
In spite of the challenges, Joseph, who is also producing, said that he is “delighted to be embarking on this adventure” with Nat Geo and Ranulph. “It is every boy’s dream to go on an expedition with the world’s great living explorer,” he added.
We can all follow along from a safe distance. The three-part docuseries will premiere in 2019.
It’s not like “The Handmaid’s Tale” isn’t filled with rape scenes. Joseph Fiennes‘ Commander Fred Waterford has been part of them since the start of the Hulu series. He rapes Offred, aka June (Elisabeth Moss), on every Ceremony night.
Season 2 even had a particularly brutal rape scene where — at wife Serena Joy Waterford’s (Yvonne Strahovski) suggestion — Fred raped the very pregnant Offred while Serena held her down to try and force Offred’s delivery.
However, Joseph Fiennes told Entertainment Weekly there was one planned rape scene in Season 2 that just didn’t “track” right to him — and after reading his explanation, many fans seem to agree.
The plan was to have Fred rape Serena during the ill-fated Gilead diplomatic trip to Canada. Sure, Fred is a control freak and that violent power move would’ve made sense on some level, but it also wouldn’t have made sense on other levels, as Fiennes explained to EW:
“I guess in many ways, as abhorrent and nasty and evil as Fred is, I have to defend parts of him. In Episode 9, we had a moment where Fred was going to rape — after meeting Luke — rape Serena in a hotel room straight after, and it just didn’t track for me. I had to go out on a limb and refuse to do it because I felt that even though Fred is who he is, he’s human. And I think that he would be reeling from the interaction with Luke, and that suddenly the reality comes face to face with him and he would be digesting that and trying to understand it, and he wouldn’t necessarily be switched on by being in Canada in a new hotel and trying to heavily persuade his wife to do something that she wouldn’t want to do.”
Fiennes said he send long emails to The Powers That Be to make his case, including arguing that fellow Emmy nominee Yvonne Strahovski was already successfully showing Serena’s “disenfranchisement with the regime and Fred.” So they didn’t need another rape scene to go above-and-beyond making a point that was already being made.
Rape is understandably a big part of the show, even if the commanders and their wives rarely acknowledge it as rape. But rape as a plot device — especially rape as a way to make an “unsympathetic” woman more sympathetic — is a trope that good shows have stopped using.
You don’t need to rape Serena on top of all of the other brutal things that happen to her (and everyone else) this season for her character’s arc to ring true.
Good for Joseph Fiennes for standing up on this point. He may not have shown the best judgment with that Michael Jackson episode, but the “Shakespeare in Love” star deserves props for this call.
Hulu has renewed “The Handmaid’s Tale” for Season 3. The show was nominated for several 2018 Emmy Awards, and we’ll see how many it picks up on September 17.
