Every Enola Holmes Movie, Ranked

Picture: Netflix

Enola Holmes, the youngest yet oh-so-clever sibling of the Holmes family, has made her mark on Netflix as one of its most successful franchises. The Millie Bobby Brown-led movie series, which is based on Nancy Springer’s The Enola Holmes Mysteries, has evolved into an entertaining and creative series that showcases Netflix’s golden star and a memorable marquee title. So much so that now her third adventure, which sees her brother Sherlock (Henry Cavill) getting kidnapped right when she’s about to get hitched, is positioned as the streamer’s big summer blockbuster outing. But how does Enola Holmes 3 compare to the first two? How do Enola’s action-adventure mysteries stack against each other? The game (or the rank) is afoot.

Here’s every Enola Holmes movie ranked. 

For a series that thrives on being light and fun (granted, these movies have legit murder in them, but I digress), Enola Holmes 3 takes a disappointing tonal shift that feels foreign to itself. Despite being the shortest entry (clocking in at 108 minutes compared to its two-hour-plus predecessors), EH3 is paced lethargically given the seriousness with which it takes itself. It provides Enola with a more rigorous examination of her identity—shaken by being hitched to Tewkesbury while remaining true to herself and her Holmes surname—while on a wild goose chase to save her damsel-in-distress brother.  It’s not that this makes for a bland character arc; perhaps it might be the umpteenth time film series screenwriter Jack Thorne has gone down the “Enola wanting to live up to the Holmes name” route, but it sacrifices the fun and kinetic energy that made the series a joy. The story itself doesn’t warrant the melodramatic tone it takes, either. 

Perhaps this reflects both MBB being an adult now and the creatives trying to age right alongside her and her audience. Then again, some of the greatest action stars, like your Indiana Joneses or even your Sherlocks, retained their whimsy as their actors aged, too. Also telling is the change in directors from the first two films’ Harry Bradbeer to Philip Barantini, as the action feels more streamlined and mechanical, lacking the stylish qualities that made the predecessors joyful to watch.  There are some enjoyable parts, such as when Enola learns yet another lesson about not trusting her government—she will probably leave Britain if she finds out about its corrupt system one more time—and Sharon Duncan-Brewster gives a charismatic performance as Moriarty, hamming it up in ways her co-stars and the film itself should be doing. Even so, it’s entertaining, but not as much fun as the Enola adventures that came before it, clearly entering franchise fatigue in real time.

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The sequel to Enola Holmes emphasizes the heroine’s development as a unique detective and builds upon the strengths of the first installment. As the titular lead investigates the disappearance of unionist Sarah Chapman (we love a good revisionist history) in hopes of promoting her agency, Enola goes on a larger adventure with higher stakes—getting framed for murder. It should perhaps be treated with the same level of gravity as its less appealing third entry, but instead, this film is, like the first, oodles of fun. MBB cements the character as one of her most notable roles—retaining her confident, witty image fans of the first grew to love, only strengthened in different areas. From her amusing sibling banter with big brother Sherlock to her adorable romantic relationship with the ever-loyal Tewkesbury, it’s all simply a delight.  Mind you, this is the one Enola goes ACAB with, as she has a beef with David Thewlis as a homicidal police superintendent, and spoiler alert: it features one of the best villain deaths I’ve seen in a Netflix flick in some time. It hits all the right beats of a sequel and, despite being 15 minutes too long, remains moderately enjoyable and well-crafted. 

There’s something to be said about the first Enola Holmes entry when it came out in 2020. It was the first ray of hope we needed in the desolate COVID-19 era. Millie Bobby Brown demonstrated her status as a leading star (at least at the time), and the experience was a delightfully entertaining one. Enola emerged as a formidable heroine of the screen in the 2020s and became an action star. Director Harry Bradbeer gave the movie a scrappy quality by breaking the fourth wall in a stylish, Fleabag-like way and giving it a fun tone that made me think of a mix between Nancy Drew and Pirates of the Caribbean. It all made for a rootable heroine who wanted to prove her name and her place in the world as a clever Holmes who could stand outside her brothers’ shadow—remember when the series had Mycroft (Sam Claflin)?  I’m still bummed this didn’t hit the big screen as originally intended because, in an alternate universe, this would’ve been a real crowd-pleaser, but we probably wouldn’t have had enough Enola if it did. Even if Enola Holmes 2 has the best parts, you have to respect the one that solved the case in the first place.