Enola Holmes 2

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details of classification and consumer advice lines for Enola Holmes 2
• a review of Enola Holmes 2 completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 23 November 2022.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare or disturb children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie’s message

A synopsis of the story

Following the triumph of solving her first case, Enola Holmes (Millie Bobby Brown) is determined to emerge from behind the shadow of her brother, Sherlock (Henry Cavill), and set up her own successful detective agency. For a young woman in Victoria era London, this proves to be more difficult than Enola could have ever imagined. She is about to give up and shut down shop when a penniless ‘matchstick girl’ called Bessie (Serrana Su-Ling Bliss) enlists Enola’s help to find her missing sister, Sarah (Hannah Dodd). Upon taking the case Enola finds herself thrust into a mystery that spans all strata of society, from the downtrodden factory workers who are dying from supposed cases of typhus, to the uppermost classes who have woven such a tangled web that Sherlock himself is having trouble unravelling the mystery. When a clue leads Enola to the scene of a murder she is pursued by the evil superintendent, Grail (David Thewlis), and his corrupt police officers who are more interested in protecting the powerful than in the carriage of justice. With the help of her long time love interest, Lord Tewkesbury (Lewis Partridge), and a multitude of impoverished women, Enola and Sherlock may just solve their respective cases and help make history.

Gender inequality; Societal segregation; Corruption; Greed; Extortion; Blackmail; Murder.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

• Enola is chased through the streets and threatened by corrupt policemen. She turns, ready to fight, but then finds another way out.
• There is a quick sequence of flashbacks, which include glimpses of jujitsu fighting and a man getting his head plunged in water.
• Enola’s mother blows up a mail box on a London street.
• When she arrives at an apartment following a clue, Enola finds a girl stabbed through the chest and bleeding.
• Enola kicks a police officer and pushes another out of the way as she races to escape their custody.
• A policeman falls off a drain pipe and Enola slips off a roof, clutching a drain pipe, before she manages to get into a window.
• Superintendent Grail grabs Enola by the neck and slams her against a wall. He then threatens to hang her.
• A burly woman shoves Enola into a circle of prisoners who begin to surround her. Enola raises her fists, prepared to fight but then a wall is blasted out of the way.
• Enola’s mother throws a smoke bomb at the policemen who are chasing them and trying to run their carriage off the road.
• Enola’s mother prepares another bomb and Enola throws it into the police buggy, causing the officers to crash.
• Superintendent Grail fires multiple shots at Enola and her mother as they try to escape. He misses but rams a wooden shaft through the carriage wheel, causing them to crash and overturn as police surround them.
• Enola, her mother and a friend fight back, head butting, punching, kicking and flipping the officers over. The officers attack with swords but are again overpowered by the women who walk away and explode their wagon as they leave.
• Enola is slapped in the face repeatedly.
• Someone attacks Enola from behind. She is seized and searched.
• A man is found dead.
• Enola punches Lord Tewkesbury.
• Enola discovers that girls are dying from working in a matchstick factory.
• Bessie has a knife held to her neck. She bites the man holding her.
• Superintendent Grail tries to shoot Sherlock and Enola.
• Lord Tewkesbury fights with a police officer, punching and kicking him and later sword fighting him.
• Sherlock swordfights a corrupt police inspector.
• Superintendent Grail shouts at Enola, captures her and tries to shoot her at close range but the gun is empty. He then slices her hand, punches her in the face and stabs her through the chest with a knife. She punches him back as they both realise the knife was fake. Grail then hits Enola in the head with a heavy, metal hook. As she fights to remain conscious, Enola sees a way to escape and rolls off the plank of wood she is laying on and lands on a pulley. This causes the superintendent to fly upwards, smashing his head into the ceiling and crashing back down to the floor below where he is clearly dead.

Material that may scare or disturb children

• Nothing further noted.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

• There are numerous scenes in which Enola is either outright attacked, or simply in peril. Some of these scenes are likely to be distressing to some viewers, specifically the scenes where Enola is stabbed through the chest (though the knife turns out to be fake) and hit in the head with a heavy metal hook.
• There is a particular scene in which Enola is followed through the darkened streets by a man with a cane. She is clearly nervous and keeps looking over her shoulder for some sign of her pursuer but he stays in the shadows, demonstrating his presence by the menacing clunk of his cane.
• Some children may be distressed by the factory girl who dies from stab wounds moments after Enola encounters her, or when little Bessie is held hostage with a knife to her neck.

• Nothing further of concern.

Product placement

• None noted.

Sexual references

• None noted.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

• There is some flirtation with fans.
• There is a brief discussion of an affair.
• Enola and Lord Tewkesbury kiss in a carriage.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

• Patrons drink in a club.
• A character smokes a pipe.
• Sherlock is thrown out into the street after having a disagreement over wine and who it belonged to. He is clearly drunk and Enola must help him home.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

• Nincompoop
• Lying little Toe Rag
• Bloody woman
• Coward.

In a nutshell

Enola Holmes 2 is the sequel to Netflix’ original, Enola Holmes. The film is a dramatic adventure with some connection to historical events and is well cast, including a diverse range of characters with strong female role models. The film will be best enjoyed by tween and teen audiences, with parental guidance recommended to 12.

The main messages from this movie are that too many people make the mistake of trying to fit into the world around them but no matter how lost, unworthy or invisible you may feel if you remain true to yourself you will always find your way; that teamwork is more powerful than independence; and that sometimes it just takes one small thing to change the rules of the world.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

• Courage
• Determination
• Teamwork
• Ingenuity
• Helpfulness.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

• Disempowering women and refusing to see their capacity or potential simply because of their gender.
• Putting profits before people and taking brutal actions to safeguard secrets.
• How parts of this story were based on actual historical events and the reforms that came about thanks to the Match Girl Strike.