He’s 93, his brilliant mind is not what it used to be but the character of Holmes played here by Ian McKellen is as interesting to me as ever. In this film, Sherlock is a real person who reads the books Watson wrote (fictionalized) about him and even goes to a showing of one of the movies based on him. What really kept me interested is the wonderful performance by McKellen who plays old Holmes and very old Holmes as two distinct characters. It might not be a tightly wound mystery movie but it is a tender and well made film.