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Qiwei Fu
Professor Linda Haas
Writing 39B
21 May 2014
Sherlock Holmes: An Action Movie.
It has been well over an hundred years since the creation of Sherlock Holmes, the genius
detective who has set the conventions for the mystery genre. It should be no surprise to find
that that people must be getting bored of the same old Sherlock Holmes solving the crimes.
Guy Ritchie saw this as a time for change; he created Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadow, an
Action Adventure films. Film critic Roger Rebert in his review for that movie claimed that . This
is a modern action picture played in costume. I knew it would be (Rebert). And its clear to see
why. According to AQA GCSE Media Studies, Action adventure films is usually filled with:
excitement and danger, building up to a dramatic ending, involves a conflict between good
and evil with the former always triumphing in the end, center of this narrative is a heroic and
resourceful character (usually male) that has some sort of mission/task to accomplish,
narrative involves tense and exciting scenes, and settings tend to be exotic or on a grand
scale.(AQA). Sherlock Holmes: a Game of Shadow fulfills every single convention of the
action adventure genre. For instance, the epic adventure of Sherlock and Watson deep into
Moriartys territory to overthrow his scheme is beyond exciting and the ending where Sherlock
and Moriarty both plunge down the waterfall definitely makes for a dramatic ending. The good
and bad of the stories are clear; Sherlock, representing justice fighting against the evil master
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mind Moriarty. Sherlock is more than heroic and resourceful to fit the narrating role. And the
world at verge of war is no doubt a grand scale. The movie about Sherlock Holmes is no longer a
typical mystery movie, it has now mix mashed with the action-adventure genre. Sherlock is no
longer just a detective, he is a superhero. No ordinary Sherlock would be able to win an
absurdly unfavorable melee battle, or annihilate a squad of well-trained soldier in a train.
Changing an ordinary mystery story into an action adventure superhero movie was done to
appeal to the audience and better take advantage of the technology now available for movie.
21
st
century is the age of action movie; Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, are just a few example
of the top grossed super hero movies that aired within a few years.

The first scene that shows the adaptation of action-adventure genre into the Sherlock
movie is the scene when Watson was on his honeymoon with Mary where he was ambushed by
Moriarty. Sherlock shows up and saves Watson and Mary and takes out the entire squad of
soldiers sent after Watson. After the initial raid by the soldiers failed due to a phosphorus bomb
planted by Sherlock, Watson and Sherlock began to fight back. The scene starts as Sherlock and
Watson sets a trap in the cabin and climbs out the train and climb along the side of the train as
it travels at high speed. There is many film element used to convey the action adventure genre.
First of all, before they climbed out of the train, the music and all sound are mostly cut out.
However, as they began to climb out, a fast paced dramatic music cuts in and prominent sound
of fast moving wind cuts in to amplify that sense of speed and intensity of the movement. Also,
to add on to the effect created by the music, the camera proximity contributes by starting at
medium shot of Sherlock and slowly zooming out to an extreme longshot with extreme high
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angle. This work to make the scene more intense by presenting the audience with exterior of
the train, such as tree branches zooming pass the lenses as well as making Sherlock and Watson
appear in extreme high angle which is often used to depict a shocking and unnatural occurrence.
As Sherlock and Watson climb along the side of train, the camera is in close shot. The framing is
very unstable and consist of zooming branches. The camera angle was used to better capture
the intense expression of Sherlock and Watson in a dire situation, as well as representing the
lack of awareness they have of their surrounding due to the close proximity of the camera, the
shaky framing is used to amplify the sense of motion. Then the scene cuts to soldier barging
into the cabin where Sherlock and Watson were previously. The camera quickly takes an
extreme close shot of the grenade that Sherlock had planted before it explodes. The quick
extreme close shot was used to show user the grenades imminent detonation, thus creating
suspense needed for action genre. Next, the grenade blows up as the soldier takes a peek
outside the train to see where Sherlock and Watson is. The detonation of the grenade and
soldiers are edited in overlapping shots; the detonation were captured in many camera angle
and played one after another. It prolong the duration of the detonation, as well as making it
seem more dramatic. Overlapping shots is a very common and popular technique used in action
adventure films. A few seconds later, Watson and Sherlock climbs back into another cabin and
take refugee there on the floor, while we see the scene where a soldier loads a Gatling gun.
Here we have numerous extreme close shot of the gun as it reloads, such as on the bullet, in
the barrel, etc. This was used to prolong and dramatize the process of reloading and create
tension before the gun is actually fire. The rapid cuts from the camera also give it a sense of
action. When the gun started firing, many close up shots of walls in the train penetrated by
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bullets is shown to the audience, and then a close up of Watson and Sherlock on the floor
dodging bullet were shown. There is many particles flying in the cabin to show the sense of
danger they are in as well as visualize the power of bullets flying by as well as creates a chaotic
situation needed for action movies. However, during the bullet rain. A close up of Sherlock
laying on the floor smoking a pipe without a sense of danger in a dangerous situation makes
him a superhero. The extreme close proximity of the camera captures Sherlocks careless facial
expressions beautifully, giving a sense of superhero like quality of Sherlock to the audience. No
ordinary man can sit in a bullet rain without sense of fear or danger. That is immediately
contrasted by Watsons nervous facial expression and voice. The volume of Watsons voice
contrasted with Sherlocks calm conversation further amplify Sherlocks super hero like
attributes. The shooting is interrupted with Sherlocks sabotage. The camera takes an extreme
close shot of the lipstick Sherlock had planted in the ammo to show the audience that the gun
will be jammed. It did not only create another suspenseful scene, but it illustrate Sherlocks
genius at planning ahead. Using that opportunity, Watson takes a shot and the pile of grenade
blows up. The camera takes a shot reverse shot through the hole created by gun fires. It allows
audience to show the shot through Watsons perspective, as if putting the audience in the
hands of Watson as he takes an important shot which will save their life. Very action oriented,
very effective. The grenade blowing up was shot in extreme high angle, which t illustrate a
dramatic and unnatural occurrence. This sums up the scenes cuts by cuts and we can clearly see
that many techniques used are very action and adventure film oriented.
The next scene that illustrate the fusion of action adventure genre into the mystery
genre is the scene where Sherlock and Watson and the Gypsy gang are on the run from
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Moriartys army. The scene starts with Sherlock, Watson, and the gypsy gang running away with
Moriartys soldiers in pursuit. The camera movement is track shots as it follows the group as
they run away. The scene constantly cuts to an extreme wide shot of the pursuers as they open
fire on Sherlocks group and then immediately return to the track shot of Sherlocks group. This
rapid transition of many cuts of Sherlock and pursuer creates a sense of fast action as well as
suspense, not only does it cut back and forth between the two group, many action match were
used on Sherlocks group to enhance the sense of disorientation as they escape. The frame of
the shots also contain many tree and brushes In the foreground that zooms by the screen to
further increase the sense of speed and action as the characters run through the brush. Next in
the scene, the enemy began to open fire with mortar. The camera began to alternate from
extreme long shot to side way track shot of the groups. The extreme long shot was used to
allow the mortar blow to be included in screen, and the altering medium track shot was used to
show the struggle of the group as they run in midst of mortar shells. The medium track shot
now zoom in to close shot while incorporate slow motion shots. We see bullets scraping on
Watson and Sherlocks shirts, shell exploding with bright visual effect, and trees shattering. This
slow motion and close shot was used to emphasis just how close the bullets were and how
much danger they are in. To add on to the slow motion, many pan and whip pan were used to
capture different person of the group escaping, each dodging bullets as well as firing back at
the pursuer to achieve maximum intensity of action. Later on, the soldier uses their secret
weapon Little Hanes, an enormous canon. Many extreme close up shot were edited to play in
sequence, even shots of inside the barrel were presented to the audience. Such as the pin that
triggers the detonation of the shell. This was done dramatize the use of the canon as well as
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building up suspense for it finally fires. When the canon was fired, we see the camera capture a
few moment of the bullet traveling in midair, crushing through trees. Once again many slow
motions were used to capture it. And when it finally landed near the group escaping. We are
presented with slow motion medium shot of every group member flying through the air due to
the huge blast. The music played in the background during the explosion is full of dissonance to
accompany the suspense of the blast. The scene suddenly snaps out of slow motion and we see
all the group member fall to the ground in regular speed as if we are brought back to reality. A
very graphically intense and suspenseful scene, full of action element.
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadow, like Rebert said, is an action film clothed in late
Victorian costume. There is as many action elements and scenes used in that movie as Batman
or Ironman, movies known for their flashy combat and action scenes. Taking consideration of
those films success, it comes as no surprise that this movie has mix mashed many elements
from the action and adventure genre. Sherlock Holmes is no longer a mere detective, he is now
a super hero capable of winning impossible fights against the biggest criminal mastermind the
world has ever seen.





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AQA. "External Assessment Topic Summer 2011: Action Adventure Films." AQA GCSE Media
Studies (2009): 1. AQA. 2009. Web. 21 May 2014. <http://filestore.aqa.org.uk/subjects/AQA-4810-W-
TRB-U01-EXTASS-2011-AAF.PDF>.
Rebert, Robert. "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Movie Review (2011) | Roger
Ebert." RobertRebert. N.p., 14 Dec. 2011. Web. 21 May 2014.
<http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/sherlock-holmes-a-game-of-shadows-2011>.