When the serial killer Lord Blackwood rises from his grave, detective Sherlock Holmes and his trusted partner Watson set out to unravel the mystery of his reappearance. What they discover, however, is a far greater threat -- one that, if realized, could bring all of England to its knees...
Boy, has it been a whirlwind of a summer. I've zipped around the world, watched some of my best friends get married, moved into a new place, and (perhaps best of all) read not one...but TWO of the best scripts I've ever read! Of course, however, there's been one little thing missing from it all: A ClassAct post :)
So after two grueling months of silence...I'm back, baby! This week's breakdown is particularly exciting because it tackles a genre we've yet to see here on ClassAct:
. And since you know I
, what better way to re-kick things off than with a breakdown of Guy Ritchie's 2009 box office banger,
, which can teach us about outlining complex puzzles for our protagonists to work through piece-by-piece. It can also teach us about writing
, which is important for anyone hoping to sell a big-budget action script. And finally - though perhaps most importantly -
So read up, keep an eye out for the beats, and we'll look at the film's structure after the jump. (Click the
ACT I
00:00 - 06:45 (6.75 pages) [+]
EXT. / INT. CHURCH - NIGHT
We open on a chariot rushing through the streets of London. Inside is DR. JOHN
WATSON
(Jude Law) and INSPECTOR
LESTRADE
(Eddie Marsan), preparing for some kind of battle. Outside, zipping along on foot, is DETECTIVE SHERLOCK
HOLMES
(Robert Downey, Jr.).
Holmes breaks into a building and takes out an armed guard using
bullet-time, which is the term I'll be using to describe this little piece of badassery:
Bullet-time
Holmes continues to the basement, where some sort of
Satanic ritual
is taking place. He's joined by
Watson just as another bad guy attacks, and they kill the guy while making witty banter:
They spring into action and take out five bad guys at once, stopping the
Satanic ritual just as a helpless girl is about to be sacrificed. They unmask the main bad guy, discovering LORD
BLACKWOOD
(Mark Strong), a serial killer who has murdered
five women in the past several weeks. Inspector
Lestrade arrives with a dozen Scotland Yard officers, and they take
Blackwood into custody.
FLASH-BANG OPEN
06:45 - 11:30 (4.75 pages) [+]
INT. 221 BAKER STREET - DAY
Watson visits with a patient (he's a very respected doctor) when suddenly, a series of gunshots rings out through the house. The patient is scared, but
Watson assures him it's okay:
Watson walks into the next room, where he finds
Holmes testing out his latest invention: a pistol silencer.
Watson opens the window and
Holmes SCREAMS -- apparently, he's been sitting in this dark room for weeks, and isn't used to the sun. Through the conversation that follows,
Watson and
Holmes lay out every bit of expository information we need to know:
Watson notices that his dog is unconscious. Apparently,
Holmes has been testing a new
anesthetic
on the dog, which can make a person appear dead.
Watson invites
Holmes to dinner with his girlfriend, and
Holmes begrudgingly accepts.
11:30 - 15:45 (4.25 pages) [+]
INT. RESTAURANT - NIGHT
Holmes waits for
Watson to arrive, his keen senses being overloaded with images and sounds from throughout the room.
Watson appears with his girlfriend,
MARY
(Kelly Reilly). In an attempt to impress her,
Holmes begins inferring things about her past based on small details - what she's wearing, how she sits, etc. But instead of impressing her, he accidentally offends her; she throws her drink in his face and marches off. Disappointed,
Watson leaves as well.
15:45 - 19:15 (3.50 pages) [+]
INT. UNDERGROUND FIGHT CLUB - NIGHT
The crowd screams and cheers as
Holmes bare-knuckle boxes a GIANT DUDE. Among them, a pretty woman - who we'll come to know as
IRENE
ADLER (Rachel McAdams) - winks at him, and leaves her
scarf in the ring for him to pick up. Intrigued, he uses
bullet-time to finish the fight, and leaves with the scarf.
⇡ ⇣ OPENING EXPOSITION
19:15 - 20:00 (0.75 pages) [+]
INT. PRISON - NIGHT
The prison guards are dumbfounded to find one of their co-workers convulsing on the floor. It's the work of Lord
Blackwood, who has a sinister demand:
20:00 - 21:15 (1.25 pages) [+]
INT. 221 BAKER STREET - NIGHT
Holmes shows
Watson a ridiculous experiment he's been working on.
Watson is unamused. He tells
Holmes to get dressed:
21:15 - 22:45 (1.50 pages) [+]
INT. CARRIAGE - DAY
Holmes and
Watson have a conversation as they drive to the prison. Aside from establishing the
London Tower Bridge
(which is where the final battle will happen), there's not much of a purpose to the scene, although character-wise, it goes a long way toward building the relationship between
Holmes and
Watson.
"You have the grand gift of silence, Watson. It makes you quite invaluable as a companion."
22:45 - 28:00 (5.25 pages) [+]
EXT. / INT. PRISON - DAY
Holmes and
Watson step out of the carriage to find hundreds of people gathered outside the prison. Apparently,
Blackwood has been raising a major stink. CUT TO:
Inside the prison,
Holmes follows a guard to
Blackwood's cell. The guard admits he's terrified of
Blackwood, and
Holmes continues on his own. He approaches
Blackwood, who warns that his reign of terror is only just beginning:
CUT TO the execution:
Watson watches as
Blackwood is hanged. MOMENTS LATER: He checks
Blackwood's pulse, and confirms that the villain is, in fact, dead.
28:00 - 32:00 (4.00 pages) [+]
The following scenes in LONDON run simultaneously, which is why they're grouped together.
INT. 221 BAKER STREET - MORNING
Holmes wakes up to find
Irene (the girl from the boxing match) in his room. Apparently, they have a history (it's not clear exactly how they know each other, but it was romantic).
Irene asks
Holmes to take a case for her, handing him an envelope and some money. On her way out, she passes
Watson, who recognizes her.
EXT. LONDON STREET / INT. CARRIAGE - CONTINUOUS
Irene runs outside and hops inside a carriage, where someone special is waiting…
AN ANNOYING HOMELESS MAN runs up to the carriage and
Asshole
McSecretface whips out a gun. The homeless man backs off, apologizing.
INCITING INCIDENT
32:00 - 37:15 (5.25 pages) [+]
INT. 221 BAKER STREET - LATER
Watson makes fun of
Holmes for letting
Irene into his house:
They look over the envelope
Irene dropped off, which describes a missing person:
REORDON
, a guy neither of them know.
Watson asks
Holmes to explain what's going on, and
Holmes complies. We enter a FLASHBACK:
FLASHBACK
When
Irene left the house,
Holmes followed her out the door, stealing some clothes and dressing himself up as a homeless person. When she got into the carriage, he approached to have a look, and a mysterious man pointed a gun at him (
Asshole McSecretface, from the previous scene).
BACK TO SCENE
Holmes and
Watson mull this over, when a police officer bursts into the room:
37:15 - 41:00 (3.75 pages) [+]
EXT. GRAVEYARD - DAY
Holmes and
Watson arrive at the graveyard to find
Blackwood's grave smashed open from the inside.
Watson talks to a witness - the groundskeeper - who is in shock, and can't give him anything.
The police open
Blackwood's coffin, surprised to find the man inside is
not Lord
Blackwood at all. Instead, it's
Reordon, the guy
Irene had asked them to track down. Quietly,
Holmes steals the corpse's
pocket watch, and just as he's about to leave, the groundskeeper comes forward:
Against his better judgment,
Watson agrees to take on the case with
Holmes, and the two set off to unravel the mystery of Lord
Blackwood's resurrection.
"The game is afoot..."
PLOT POINT #1
ACT II
41:00 - 44:00 (3.00 pages) [+]
EXT. MARKET - DAY
Holmes and
Watson walk through a crowded market, going over the clues they have so far:
From the initials on the watch, they deduce where it was bought, and head toward the shop to acquire the victim's address. But on the way,
Holmes plays a prank on
Watson (to see the prank, fast-forward to 1:30):
"What of the warts?!"
44:00 - 51:45 (5.75 pages) [+]
EXT. / INT. REORDON'S HOUSE - LATER
Holmes and
Watson walk toward
Reordon's (the dead guy) house.
Watson wants to leave, but against his better judgment (see a pattern?) he decides to accompany
Holmes.
The guys break into
Reordon's house and look around, searching for clues. In all, here's what they find:
• Reordon was working on some kind of science experiment...
• Whatever it was, he succeeded (which is why he was killed)...
• And most importantly, he was working with Lord Blackwood.
The search is cut short when THREE MEN (one of them a
giant Frenchman
) arrive, planning to burn down the house.
Holmes and
Watson refuse to leave, and a fight breaks out:
After
Holmes and
Watson get the better of them, the
giant Frenchman flees the scene.
Holmes gives chase, following him all the way to...
|
⇡ ⇣ FUN AND GAMES
51:45 - 55:30 (3.75 pages) [+]
INT. / EXT. BOAT DOCKS - DAY
…a boat dock, where the fight continues.
Holmes asks the
giant Frenchman who he's working for:
A chase ensues, during which
Holmes and the
giant Frenchman destroy the entire boat dock.
Watson bursts in and saves
Holmes at the last second, just as a ship gets ripped from the dock and sinks into the ocean.
55:30 - 58:00 (2.50 pages) [+]
INT. JAIL - DAY
Holmes and
Watson sit in jail, waiting to be bailed out. They have a conversation (more witty banter!), and
Watson expresses how frustrated he is that
Holmes doesn't want him to get married and be happy.
Mary (his fiancée) arrives and bails him out, leaving
Holmes to sit in jail by himself.
58:00 - 59:15 (1.25 pages) [+]
INT. JAIL / INT. CARRIAGE - DAY
Inspector
Lestrade arrives to find
Holmes entertaining the rest of the criminals with jokes. He bails
Holmes out, demanding he get his act together and find
Blackwood before all of London goes nuts.
Holmes gets into a carriage, where a friendly man places a bag over his head.
MIDPOINT REVERSAL
Midpoint
59:15 - 63:15 (4.00 pages) [+]
INT. ROTHERAM'S MANSION - DAY
The bag is pulled off
Holmes' head, and he finds himself sitting in a mansion. Across from him is a man named
ROTHERAM
(James Fox). Without any explanation,
Holmes deduces who
Rotheram is:
Two other guys walk in, and they introduce themselves as the official leaders of the
Temple of the Four Orders. One of these guys is LORD
COWARD
(Hans Matheson), who controls the London Police. The men are worried
Blackwood is going to use dark magic to summon a demon, and they ask for
Holmes' help in tracking him down.
"Blackwood's secret lies in the Book of Spells..."
Holmes agrees to find
Blackwood, but declines to help these guys in any way. He denies their offer of payment and leaves.
63:15 - 66:15 (3.00 pages) [+]
INT. IRENE'S HOUSE - DAY
Holmes attempts to break into
Irene's house, but before he can, she opens the door and lets him in. They pour some wine and talk.
Holmes informs
Irene of a few things:
1. He found Reordon (her friend) inside Blackwood's tomb.
2. Whoever killed Reordon will be coming for her next.
3. She should leave town and disappear, or he will arrest her.
Satisfied with himself,
Holmes drinks some wine and immediately realizes it was a mistake to do so; the wine, he now sees, is laced with poison.
Irene helps him to the floor as he passes out.
66:15 - 67:30 (1.15 pages) [+]
INT. ROTHERAM'S MANSION - NIGHT
Rotheram (
Blackwood's dad) takes a bath. All of a sudden, the water starts boiling like acid, and
Rotheram begins to choke. As he loses his breath and dies,
Blackwood steps out of the shadows...
67:30 - 68:30 (1.00 pages) [+]
INT. IRENE'S HOUSE / INT. POLICE CARRIAGE - DAY
A maid walks into
Irene's room to find
Holmes tied up on the bed:
"Madam, beneath this pillow lies the key to my release."
We CUT TO a police carriage, where
Holmes is explaining the misunderstanding to an officer. The officer is glad the whole thing happened:
68:30 - 71:15 (2.75 pages) [+]
INT. ROTHERAM'S MANSION - DAY
The police bring
Holmes into the room where
Rotheram was murdered. Finding a secret door,
Holmes sends the officers away to gather more data.
"What are you hiding, door?"
Holmes pushes through the door into a
secret room, where he finds a whole collection of
Rotheram's
weird cult stuff
.
Holmes steals a few pieces of this
weird cult stuff and hurries out.
71:15 - 74:45 (3.50 pages) [+]
EXT. / INT. TEMPLE OF THE FOUR ORDERS - DAY
An AMERICAN MAN hurries through the London streets. He arrives at the Temple of the Four Orders, where a meeting is happening. Members of the Temple sit around talking, when suddenly…
...
Lord Blackwood appears.
The American Man now dead,
Blackwood sits down in the president's chair, and everyone acknowledges him as the new leader of the Temple of the Four Orders. They drink to his chieftanship.
⇡ ⇣ ROLL DOWNHILL
74:45 - 77:45 (3.00 pages) [+]
INT. 221 BAKER STREET - DAY
Watson cleans out his room (remember, he's moving away), when suddenly
Holmes enters with a dead body in his arms.
Holmes examines the body.
Watson doesn't want to participate, but he can't help himself. Together, they deduce that the man came from a factory by the river, and
Holmes leaves. Watching him off,
Watson notices a few items that
Holmes deliberately left on the table:
"He left my gun here on purpose..."
With a sigh,
Watson picks up the gun and sets off to follow
Holmes.
77:45 - 79:00 (1.25 pages) [+]
INT. BOAT - NIGHT
Holmes and
Watson ride a
fishing boat
toward the factory on the other side of the river. It's a funny scene, where they interact with the crotchety boat captain. Arriving at the shore, they sprint into…
79:00 - 86:15 (7.25 pages) [+]
INT. / EXT. FACTORY - NIGHT
...the factory. It's dark, with dead animals hanging from hooks all around. A slaughterhouse.
Holmes and
Watson explore carefully. Then out of nowhere,
Blackwood's voice rings out:
He warns that
tomorrow at noon, the whole world will change, and there's nothing
Holmes can do about it. The room lights up, revealing
Irene handcuffed to a conveyor belt and drifting toward a giant band saw.
Holmes and
Watson rush to save
Irene, cutting her down at the last second.
Irene kisses
Holmes on the cheek, thanking him. He uncuffs her and they chase
Blackwood outside…
...only to find him escaping on a fishing boat. Running after him,
Watson trips a wire with his foot, and
the whole factory explodes in super-slow motion while badass Hans Zimmer music plays:
To make matters worse,
Holmes wakes up to find a police officer standing over him. Apparently, Lord
Coward (
Blackwood's right hand man in the Temple of the Four Orders, who we first met in
59:15 - 63:15) has issued a warrant for
Holmes' arrest.
86:15 - 87:30 (1.25 pages) [+]
INT. TRAIN STATION - NIGHT
Irene hops on a train and sits down across from
Asshole McSecretface.
87:30 - 89:00 (1.50 pages) [+]
INT. MARY'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Watson lies in bed, unconscious.
Mary sits at his side. The doctor turns to leave, but as he does,
Mary realizes something...
...the doctor is Sherlock
Holmes in disguise. She tells him
Watson's injuries aren't his fault, and encourages him to keep fighting.
"Solve the case...whatever it takes."
89:00 - 91:00 (2.00 pages) [+]
INT. BASEMENT - NIGHT
Now in hiding,
Holmes sits in a dark basement, going over the clues in his head. Sounds fill his mind as he replays the entire case, until suddenly...
...his eyes open. He's got it.
We then enter a montage, during which
Holmes gets drunk, pulls out
Rotheram's
weird cult stuff, and performs a
Satanic ritual (hoping to re-trace
Blackwood's footsteps). A whirlwind of clues flies before his face, building to a crescendo, until we finally SMASH CUT TO:
|
PLOT POINT #2
ACT III
91:00 - 95:15 (4.25 pages) [+]
INT. BASEMENT - MORNING
Holmes wakes up to find
Watson and
Irene standing over him. He awkwardly makes amends with both of them. Then, standing up, he goes over all the clues to the case, tying together every clue we've seen so far:
For the whole explanation, see the Clue Breakdown in the Analysis section below.
In a nutshell, what they ultimately piece together is that at noon today,
Blackwood is going to attack Parliament.
Then suddenly, the police arrive.
Holmes hurries
Watson and
Irene out the door just as Inspector
Lestrade arrives to arrest him.
95:15 - 100:00 (4.75 pages) [+]
The following scenes in LONDON run simultaneously, which is why they're grouped together.
INT. TEMPLE OF THE FOUR ORDERS - DAY
Lestrade brings
Holmes into Lord
Coward's office. It's revealed that
Lestrade has been working for the bad guys this whole time; he punches
Holmes and leaves him in Lord
Coward's care.
While Lord
Coward loads his gun,
Holmes closes the fireplace vent, filling the room with smoke. When
Coward turns back around, he doesn't know where
Holmes is, and so begins a game of cat-and-mouse. As
Holmes darts through the smoke, he observes the clues around the room, ultimately determining where the final attack will take place:
And with that,
Holmes makes a break for it, jumping out the window as
Coward shoots at him. He dives ten stories into the River Thames, where
Watson and
Irene are waiting for him in the
fishing boat.
INT. FISHING BOAT - CONTINUOUS
Holmes climbs into the boat and tells the captain where to go. He announces that
Lestrade did his job perfectly (a flashback reveals
Lestrade was working with
Holmes the whole time). The boat takes off, heading for Parliament...
100:00 - 108:00 (8.00 pages) [+]
The following scenes in LONDON run simultaneously, which is why they're grouped together.
EXT. / INT. SEWER - DAY
Citizens riot outside Parliament. Inside, the entire government of the U.K. is gathering for an important meeting…
Underground, the gang (
Holmes,
Watson,
Irene) sneaks through the sewer, arriving at the
giant chemical weapon set up by
Blackwood and the Temple of the Four Orders.
Holmes explains that
this was the weapon
Reordon was building for
Blackwood (and therefore, the reason
Reordon was killed).
The machine is surrounded by bad guys. The gang bursts into the room guns blazing, and a fight ensues.
Holmes and
Watson take the bad guys head-on while
Irene works on disarming the giant machine of death. Meanwhile, upstairs…
INT. PARLIAMENT - SAME TIME
The members of the Temple of the Four Orders lock the doors, trapping the entire government of the U.K. inside the Parliament building. Lord
Coward steps forward and announces the arrival of Lord
Blackwood:
INT. UNDERGROUND SEWER
Meanwhile, in the sewer,
Holmes joins
Irene at the giant machine of death.
Watson fights the bad guys while they figure out how to disarm it. Then suddenly, he gets
thrown against the wall.
Holmes looks up to see the
giant Frenchman marching in, hungry for blood. Meanwhile, upstairs…
INT. PARLIAMENT
The clock strikes noon. Lord
Blackwood says, "Now, I will summon the dark powers!" and pushes a secret button. Meanwhile, downstairs…
INT. UNDERGROUND SEWER
The
giant machine of death hums to life.
Holmes and
Watson fight the
giant Frenchman while
Irene disarms the machine. It's close, but they knock him unconscious, and
Irene cuts the machine off at the very last second. And then, unexpectedly…
she grabs a piece of the machine and RUNS AWAY. Holmes chases after her.
Meanwhile, upstairs…
INT. PARLIAMENT
Nothing happens. Lord
Blackwood looks around, confused (why isn't the room filling with toxic gas?). He runs downstairs to find…
INT. SEWER
…
Irene, running off with part of his machine! She hurries up the stairs,
Holmes hot on her trail, arriving at...
108:00 - 114:00 (6.00 pages) [+]
EXT. LONDON TOWER BRIDGE - DAY
Irene runs onto the
London Tower Bridge, realizing she's trapped (the bridge is under construction, so there's a huge gap in the middle).
Holmes catches up to her.
Then out of nowhere, _*BLACKWOOD POUNCES ON HER!
Holmes watches, helpless, as he knocks her off the bridge. She lands, unconscious, on a ledge below…
Blackwood turns on
Holmes. The two attack each other full-force (setting up a PERFECT OPPORTUNITY FOR HOLMES' BULLET-TIME MOVE WHICH FOR SOME INEXPLICABLE REASON NEVER HAPPENS), and
Holmes traps
Blackwood on the edge of the bridge. Circling his nemesis,
Holmes explains how
Blackwood pulled everything off:
When the explanation is over,
Blackwood falls to his death, chains wrapping around his neck, hanging him from the bridge.
CLIMAX
114:00 - 116:15 (2.25 pages) [+]
EXT. LONDON TOWER BRIDGE - MOMENTS LATER
Irene lies on a ledge, unconscious.
Holmes handcuffs her and she wakes up, explaining why she ran away with a piece of
Reordon's machine:
Holmes kisses her on the cheek and walks off, leaving her to fend for herself on the massive bridge.
116:15 - 120:30 (4.25 pages) [+]
EXT. / INT. 221 BAKER STREET - DAY
Watson and
Mary pack their belongings into the car. Walking back into the house, they find
Holmes hanging from a noose in the middle of his room.
Holmes explains that
Blackwood used a body harness to survive being hanged --
-- and a special
anesthetic to make him appear dead, which is being used on the dog at this very moment:
"Don't worry…he's seen far worse."
Finally, a police officer arrives with some terrible news:
Case re-opened...
THE END
⇡ RESOLUTION
Analysis
The beautiful thing about
"Sherlock Holmes" is that mystery-wise, it provides all the necessary pieces to the puzzle, yet holds off on key information needed to fit those pieces together until the very end of the film. Which, if you think about it, is the perfect formula for a mystery-based blockbuster; it delivers that feeling of catharsis when the final mystery is explained, but skips over the mental exhaustion that comes with having to do all the heavy thinking oneself. Of course, in order to write something like this,
YOU (the writer) are the one person on Earth who's actually required to do this heavy thinking.
So let's imagine it's 2006, and you've just been hired to write
"Sherlock Holmes." (Congratulations! Have you named your new yacht? Care to throw a groupie or ten my way?) Plot-wise, a good place to start would be with a few basic questions:
• WHO IS MY VILLAIN? Lord Blackwood.
• WHAT DOES MY VILLAIN WANT? To take over the world.
• AND HOW'S HE GONNA DO THAT? By blowing up Parliament (so to speak).
With this, we know the ending of our film:
In Act III, Sherlock Holmes will prevent Lord Blackwood from blowing up Parliament. This is the last thing that will happen -- the final step. From here, it might be helpful to come up with a
first step. Of course, in true Sherlockian fashion, our writers start with a
murder most foul:
• STEP 1: Holmes finds a murder victim.
• STEP 100: Holmes stops Lord Blackwood from blowing up Parliament.
See what I'm getting at? In a nutshell, the idea is that in order to write a script like
"Sherlock Holmes," you need to first know
the bad guy's entire plan, and then work backwards through that plan to figure out
the 99 (or however many) steps your detective will take to figure it out. It's in this spirit, then, that I give you…the
"Sherlock Holmes" Clue Breakdown (da-dada-da!). After reading through it, you should be able to understand how the mystery in
"Sherlock Holmes" works, which will make it WAY easier to break down how the writers fit everything into a blissfully easy-to-follow three-act story:
Clue Breakdown [+]
Understanding the mystery at the heart of
"Sherlock Holmes" can feel like a daunting task. Luckily, it's nowhere near as complicated as it seems; in fact, part of the fun behind detective stories is that they make simple puzzles feel more elaborate than they actually are. With this in mind, the best way to get at the mystery in
"Sherlock Holmes" is to work
backwards: First, we'll break down the villain's evil plan; then, we'll look at how
Holmes solves the mystery in the end; and finally, we'll walk step-by-step through the clues as they appear in the film. So what are you waiting for? Get cracking...the game is afoot!
Lord
Blackwood wants to take over the world, plain and simple. In order to do that, he needs to
ATTACK PARLIAMENT. And in order to do that, he needs help from these guys:
The Temple of the Four Orders
Now, in order to get the Temple of the Four Orders to help him, he has to
convince them he has magic powers. So in order to do that, he takes a look at the old "Temple of the Four Orders" handbook (also known as the "
Book of Spells,") and finds this picture:
The Star and the Sphinx
As you can see, this picture is made up of
two parts:
The STAR [+]
The star has
FIVE POINTS. What this basically means is that in order to appease the Book of Spells, Lord
Blackwood must
kill five women. When we meet him at the beginning of the film, he has already killed all five of of these women (
Holmes and
Watson catch him "trying" to kill a sixth).
One female victim for each point on the star.
The SPHINX [+]
The Sphinx is a bit more complicated. Essentially, it's made up of
four pieces:
What this basically means is that
Lord Blackwood needs to kill four men -- one for each part of the sphinx. Throughout the film, he successfully kills
three of them:
1. The MAN [+]
REORDON: Because he's just a regular old guy.
2. The OX [+]
ROTHERAM: Because he has the "ox ring" on his finger.
3. The EAGLE [+]
THE AMERICAN GUY: Because America = eagles.
Notice how there's only one piece left -
THE LION. So if
Holmes can figure out what the lion represents, he can figure out
Blackwood's next murder! For an explanation of how he solves this, open up the
HOW HOLMES FIGURES IT OUT section below.
HOW HOLMES FIGURES IT OUT [+]
Luckily, this part's easy. But before we start, it's important to remember: After all the clue-following, all the joke telling, all the McAdams-banging…Sherlock
Holmes really just needs to figure out one simple thing:
Lord Blackwood is going to attack Parliament. So before we get into the trail of clues, let's first take a look at how
Holmes puts the mystery together:
TO SOLVE THE BIG MYSTERY, SHERLOCK HOLMES TAKES BLACKWOOD'S PLAN (FROM THE SECTION ABOVE) AND BASICALLY JUST DROPS IT ONTO A GIANT MAP.
Still with me? Good! Let's take a look at
Holmes' solution in
nine easy steps:
• Step 1 [+]
Remember the
STAR from the section above? The first thing
Holmes does is draw a picture of it on the floor:
• Step 2 [+]
From here,
Holmes deduces that
Blackwood has killed
one woman for each point on the star:
• Step 3 [+]
Next, he draws a
GIANT CROSS on top of that:
• Step 4 [+]
From this, he deduces that the cross has
four points,
JUST LIKE…
The Sphinx (from the BLACKWOOD'S PLAN section above)!
• Step 5 [+]
Naturally, this means the end-points of the
CROSS represent the
four parts of the SPHINX:
• Step 6 [+]
So ultimately,
Holmes is left with this little image:
• Step 7 [+]
Having established this,
Holmes then drops the image on top of a
giant map of London...
Each point represents a location.
• Step 8 [+]
...and deduces that
each point on the STAR/CROSS refers to a specific one of Blackwood's murders:
• Step 9 [+]
But lo and behold...
one of these murders hasn't been committed yet:
So finally, we have our answer:
LORD BLACKWOOD'S FINAL ATTACK WILL TAKE PLACE AT PARLIAMENT.
This, as you'll recall from the previous paragraph, is what the whole film is about; Sherlock
Holmes follows a bunch of clues, tells a bunch of jokes, bangs a bunch of McAdams…all so he can figure out this one simple fact:
BLACKWOOD'S FINAL ATTACK WILL TAKE PLACE AT PARLIAMENT. If you're the writer, then, your next step is to create a
series of clues for
Holmes to follow, ending with his discovery of the Parliament attack. For a description of how these clues are set up, move right along to the
TRAIL OF CLUES section below…
THE TRAIL OF CLUES [+]
Now that we understand how
Blackwood's plan works, all that's left is to hide this plan inside a
series of clues that Sherlock
Holmes can figure out step-by-step. And the best part is…complicated as the mystery may seem,
there are only SIX EXTREMELY EASY steps on Holmes' path to figuring it all out! So after all this work, it's my pleasure to give you the final trail of clues, in order of appearance:
• Clue #1: Reordon, the murder victim [+]
• Clue #2: Reordon's house [+]
After using the pocket watch to figure out
Reordon's address,
Holmes and
Watson go to his house. There, they deduce that
Reordon was building something for Lord Blackwood (the machine that will "blow up" Parliament). Some guys show up to burn the place down, a fight breaks out, and we get a giant action set piece.
• Clue #3: The Temple of the Four Orders [+]
Holmes gets invited to the Temple of the Four Orders, where he meets
Rotheram, Lord
Coward, and the American Guy. Also, it's here that he gets his first look at the
Book of Spells (from the
BLACKWOOD'S PLAN section above).
• Clue #4: Rotheram, the second murder victim [+]
• Clue #5: The factory worker [+]
Remember the guys who tried to fight
Holmes and
Watson in
Clue #2?
Holmes brings home one of their corpses, and discovers that the guy worked at
Lord Blackwood's slaughter factory. Naturally,
Holmes and
Watson go there,
Blackwood attacks them, and we get another big action set piece.
• Clue #6: The Satanic ritual [+]
After the attack in
Clue #5,
Holmes goes into hiding. There, he performs the
Satanic ritual, and figures out
Blackwood's plan to attack Parliament. Six easy steps, and the mystery is solved!
Not bad, right? And as I mentioned before, what the writers have done a wonderful job of is air-lifting this web of clues into a traditional three-act script. Which means after all this weaving…
"Sherlock Holmes" is yet another pristine example of the structure we've come to know and love. So without further ado, let's take a look at where the plot points show up and briefly discuss why they are where they are:
F
lash-Bang Open [+]
WHERE IT HAPPENS: 00:00 - 06:45
The first thing
"Sherlock Holmes" gives us is (you guessed it) a badass fight sequence.
Holmes and
Watson break into a building and beat up a bunch of bad guys, effectively stopping Lord
Blackwood from finishing his
Satanic ritual. But as with any good opening scene, we also get a few important bits of exposition, namely that
Holmes uses
bullet-time to kick people's asses (i.e., he's ultra-perceptive),
Blackwood has killed five women before tonight, and
Lestrade hates
Holmes and
Watson for constantly subverting his orders.
O
pening Exposition [+]
I
nciting Incident [+]
WHERE IT HAPPENS: 28:00 - 32:00
The Inciting Incident in
"Sherlock Holmes" happens when
Irene hires Holmes to take on a new case. This is the first in a series of steps that culminates with the end of Act I (where
Holmes and
Watson officially decide to investigate
Blackwood's disappearance).
P
repare for Adventure [+]
WHERE IT HAPPENS: 32:00 - 37:15
At just over five pages, the Prepare for Adventure in
"Sherlock Holmes" is shorter than most. Basically,
Holmes and
Watson look over
Irene's case, wondering why she wants to find this "
Reordon" fellow.
P
lot Point #1 [+]
WHERE IT HAPPENS: 37:15 - 41:00
Act I comes to an end when
Holmes and
Watson open up
Blackwood's tomb, only to discover he's nowhere to be found. In a moment that would make Sir Doyle (and Billy Shakespeare) proud,
Holmes stands up and announces he'll take the case, uttering his famous line...
"The game is afoot."
F
un and Games [+]
WHERE IT HAPPENS: 41:00 - 59:15
The Fun and Games in
"Sherlock Holmes" consists of one simple thing:
Holmes and Watson follow the first clue.
Ten points if you can remember what the first clue is. (I'll give you a hint: If you haven't already, read the
Clue Breakdown above -- specifically, the
TRAIL OF CLUES section.) Did you get it? Good! In all, we get
four important beats:
• Holmes and Watson go to Reordon's house.
• The giant Frenchman shows up to kick their asses.
• Huge, badass fight sequence ensues.
• Holmes and Watson go to jail.
M
idpoint Reversal [+]
WHERE IT HAPPENS: 58:00 - 59:15
The Midpoint Reversal happens when
Holmes gets invited to the Temple of the Four Orders. Basically, he sits down in a carriage and some guy puts a bag on his head, and off they go.
R
oll Downhill [+]
WHERE IT HAPPENS: 59:15 - 91:00
In the Roll Downhill section, Lord
Blackwood starts winning the "game." He kills two more people, leading
Holmes and
Watson to basically chase him around town until they eventually fall into his super-badass death trap. In all, the section consists of
three important sections:
• 4 Scenes: Following
Blackwood's Trail
[+]
• 3 Scenes: The Slaughter Factory
[+]
• Holmes convinces Watson to join him at the factory.
• Holmes and Watson ride a _fishing boat to the factory.
• The factory is a death trap / big action set piece / everyone almost dies.
• 2 Scenes: All Hope Is Lost
[+]
And as
per usual, there's a tiny section of fluff, which I like to call…
P
lot Point #2 [+]
WHERE IT HAPPENS: 89:00 - 91:00
Remember: In the Low Point of a script, our main character decides to make a final push to defeat the bad guy(s). And in
"Sherlock Holmes," that's exactly what happens. Our favorite detective is wanted by the cops, totally out of clues, and his best friend is in the hospital...so, refusing to give up, he goes into hiding and performs Lord
Blackwood's crazy
Satanic ritual, figuring out the whole mystery in the process.
C
limax [+]
WHERE IT HAPPENS: 108:00 - 114:00
Familiar territory at this point. In the Climax,
Holmes stops Lord
Blackwood from attacking Parliament and fights him one-on-one. Of course, he kills
Blackwood and exposes the mystery, saving the girl (
Irene) in the process.
R
esolution [+]
I'm impressed, and I have no clue what you're talking about! I'll stick to surfin dude!
ReplyDeleteWow! Incredibly thorough. And now I'm thinking about how I can use some of this to create more of a mystery in my thriller script. Thanks, man.
ReplyDeleteVery nicely done.
ReplyDelete