Title Dissection: Sherlock Homes 2

Title Dissection will be a series of posts dedicated to trying to figure out as much about an unreleased movie as possible, simply by analyzing the title (and cast, and plot points, and anything else we may already know). Unfortunately these posts are really only fun if sequels end up getting subtitles, because usually plot points are kept under wraps, unlike one-offs which usually come with a plot synopsis. Today we look at Sherlock Holmes 2.

The fun returns

Let' be serious, no one honestly thought Sherlok Holmes was going to stick with a simple numbered sequel. So today's announcement from Warner Brothers and Comingsoon.net  of the sequels official title should come as no surprise.  Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows will be released this coming Christmas.

I'd like to examine the choice to title it A Game of Shadows, and not some other article, or conjunction, or....something else. First The. A strong article, and a rather popular one this past year in film. The American, The Town, The A-Team, etc. However, it's also to specific. It's not A Town, it's The Town. See with the article A I would have no idea what the film producers were thinking, but by choosing The I now know exactly what town they're talking about. If it was Sherlock Holmes: The Game of Shadows, it would give away to much of the plot. I would know that the movie would consist of the Sherlock Homes playing the Game of Shadows. A Game of Shadows allows for a more metaphorical title, and that's what everyone's asking for, more metaphors.

But why not just drop the article all together? Because that would just be stealing from Michael Bay. See he beat Guy Ritchie to the punch by cleverly sub-titling Transformers 3, as Transformers: Dark of the Moon. That's right Michael Bay doesn't like articles, they cut down on explosion time. Plus if he added The, that subtitle would have been 5 words long, one over the max number of subtitle words allowed, as decided by George Lucas in The Empire Strikes Back (see 4). And, again, Game of Shadows is too specific. You might as well call it Sherlock Holmes Plays Flashlight Tag.

Then there's And.  And poses a particular problem because you have to decide whether the movie will be And or ampersand. Personally I'm a fan of the ampersand but it's a point of heated debate best left for another post.  It could have used And, but then it would have had to use an article which brings us back to A and The. If it uses And The it moves into Harry Potter territory.  And in all honesty, Sherlock Holmes and a Game of Shadows, just sounds weak.

I'm not convinced this is best title choice, Game of Shadows does have a certain cheese factor to it, but there are certainly worse titles it could have used. What about you? Are you more or less excited now that Sherlock Holmes 2 has been officially subtitled?