Enola Holmes 2 doesn’t waste any time attending to what it does greatest: specifically chase sequences and breaking the fourth wall. Within the opening moments, Enola (Millie Bobby Brown) is operating away from two armed cops proper earlier than she stops, turns to the digital camera, and explains simply how she received into this mess. That fashion of playful motion was a big a part of the primary movie’s attraction, and the sequel retains that up whereas doing the everyday sequel factor of creating every little thing larger and extra elaborate. And with many of the origin story out of the best way within the first movie, Enola Holmes 2 is free to let unfastened and have a very good time because the form of big-budget, family-friendly motion movie that’s all too uncommon these days.

The sequel picks up not lengthy after the unique, with Enola — the youthful sister of world-famous sleuth Sherlock (Henry Cavill) — establishing her personal detective company. Drawback is, enterprise isn’t good. Being each younger and a lady is scaring off potential shoppers, most of whom would a lot somewhat discuss to Sherlock. Simply as Enola is about to shut her workplace doorways for good, a case seems: a younger lady trying to find her older sister. The 2 work at an area matchstick manufacturing facility and, in a short time, it turns into clear that there’s much more occurring with the case than merely a lacking child. Sherlock, in the meantime, finds himself stumped along with his personal case, and it’s not lengthy earlier than the 2 inevitably intersect.

The thriller is surprisingly advanced — it entails every little thing from an internet of robberies to an outbreak of typhus and a employee rebellion — but it surely has a very good momentum to it, continually racing alongside from one revelation to the subsequent. In her seek for the reality, Enola is pressured undercover (each on the matchstick manufacturing facility and at a elaborate ball), will get into loads of fights, and makes a couple of daring escapes as effectively. There are loads of explosions. Which is ideal as a result of, whereas it’s a narrative a few detective, Enola Holmes 2 isn’t a detective film. It’s the form of bombastic motion flick that may doubtless enchantment to followers of older franchises like The Mummy or Nationwide Treasure (or extra fashionable releases that desperately wish to channel that vitality). 

Which is all to say that whereas Enola Holmes as a franchise isn’t notably groundbreaking, it’s loads of enjoyable in a really particular means. And the sequel is ready to get to that enjoyable a lot faster now that we already know many of the forged of characters. Brown and Cavill specifically have an awesome chemistry; the 2 bicker like actual siblings, albeit ones who’re exceptionally clever and fiercely impartial. Watching Sherlock use his astonishing abilities of remark to determine the place his little sister has been is a pleasant twist on the character.

Elsewhere, Helena Bonham Carter returns as their sometimes absent however typically loyal mom, as does Susan Wokoma because the jiujitsu professional Edith (and the rationale Enola fights so effectively), Louis Partridge as Enola’s ongoing love curiosity, and Adeel Akhtar as a sweetly bumbling Inspector Lestrade. They’re joined by some nice new additions, together with David Thewlis as a sinister police superintendent, in addition to some shock reveals — like a superb tackle Sherlock’s nemesis Moriarty — that I gained’t spoil right here.

And whereas the main focus is totally on the motion, there may be some good character development as effectively. Once more, it’s nothing too deep or surprising, but it surely’s good to see Enola begin opening herself up and accepting assist from mates, whereas Sherlock turns into, effectively, virtually an actual individual with precise emotions.

There’s a historic and political backdrop to the movie, too, because it takes place throughout a fictionalized model of the matchgirls’ strike of 1888. Class performs a notable half in Enola Holmes 2, notably for the lead, who finds herself caught between worlds: too posh for the working-class children she’s making an attempt to assist, far too unrefined for the elites she wants to analyze.

These are all welcome developments as Enola Holmes firmly establishes itself as one of many few family-friendly blockbuster motion franchises of the second. It has the core stuff you need from this type of film — Stars! Explosions! Jokes! Romance! Sword fights! — and establishes its personal distinct taste with out going too far outdoors the traces of its style. It’s the form of playful, comforting motion movie that, if you see it enjoying on TV 10 years from now, you’ll don’t have any selection however to sit down down and watch.

Enola Holmes 2 is in choose theaters on October twenty eighth and begins streaming on Netflix on November 4th.