Nicholas Rowe brings an agreeable assurance to his young Sherlock Holmes, making intelligence something a companion can live with. We value that ease, though a career largely in supporting parts has given it limited room.
Fi1m perspective
Rowe's Sherlock Holmes is certain of himself and still interested in the person beside him. In Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), that makes his confidence bearable and his company appealing. Alan Cox's Watson is essential: their exchanges give Barry Levinson's adventure an ease that the busy plot cannot supply. We warmed to them because they seem to enjoy each other's company, even when there is a mystery demanding attention. Rowe gives us a clever young man we are happy to follow, with room for someone else to matter.
Levinson's film needs that goodwill. As the mystery gives way to effects and action, we keep more interest in the two young leads than in the machinery around them. Rowe's assurance does useful work here: Holmes can be formidable without making every conversation an ordeal. The film is entertaining, with limits, and we would recommend it for the pairing before the plotting.
An early appearance in Another Country (1984) preceded that lead; the subsequent career has largely been built from supporting parts. In Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), he plays J in Guy Ritchie's ensemble. That is the stronger film of the two, thanks to its sharp casting and tangled plans, though its camera tricks grow tiresome and its characters are thinly written. Lord Verisopht in Nicholas Nickleby (2002) and Captain David Ainsworth in Operation Mincemeat (2022) fit the later pattern of period characters and men in authority.
Mr. Holmes (2015) brings him back briefly as Matinee Sherlock, alongside Ian McKellen's older detective. It is a neat piece of casting, though our reason to seek him out remains the earlier partnership, where his confidence leaves space for another actor to answer back. Start with the adventure opposite Cox, accepting that the effects eventually receive more attention than the friendship.
Biography
Nicholas Rowe is a British actor. Born in Edinburgh in 1966, he was educated at Eton College and the University of Bristol, where he studied Hispanic studies.
Rowe began his career with a role in Another Country (1984) and played the title role in Young Sherlock Holmes (1985). He later appeared as J in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), and in films and series including Mr. Holmes (2015), The Crown (2016), The Last Kingdom (2015) and Operation Mincemeat (2022).
