After reading an article featuring a series of deaths that have been dubbed as the 'pajama suicides' Sherlock Holmes fakes his death whilst on holiday in Scotland and goes undercover to try to foil the female villain who is behind these so called 'suicides.' Trouble is this woman is as cunning as Moriarty and quickly sees through Holmes' guise and realises that he isn't dead. Knowing that the female villain is on to him Holmes must utilise all of skills in order to crack the case, but has he finally met his match?
Like the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes when Holmes was up against Moriarty, The Spider Woman is enjoyable pretty much for the same reason; Holmes is up against someone of equal intelligence and there is plenty of entertainment in watching Holmes go about his business in this one - there's a real sense of one upmanship about this film.
As was to become fairly typical with this franchise, Holmes finds himself going undercover; where I've been fooled in the past by Holmes' disguise I spotted this one straight away (then again it was made more obvious by Holmes suggesting he would orchestrate it in an earlier scene). Still it proved amusing that dim-witted Watson couldn't see through it and even funnier when Gilflower arrives later in the film and Watson thinks it's Holmes in disguise again. Whilst seeing Watson in this goofy role is very amusing it's sometimes hard to believe that he ever qualified as a doctor. Still I'm aware that there are those that are gifted academically, but whom don't have a shred of common sense and I suppose that Watson must be a case in point. Anyway I digress...
The ending to this film was different to other Holmes films that I have seen thus far; in this film you felt for once that Holmes wasn't in control and the fact that he is clearly vulnerable this time added a layer of tension that perhaps wasn't quite there in the other films (even if the resolution to said predicament for Holmes seemed to culminate in a somewhat contrived manner).
Still pound for pound The Spider Woman is a very good entry in what has proven to be a very good series so far (I've still got a fair few of these films to watch and really hope that the rest continue in the same or similar vein).
HONOURABLE MENTION; That final line of the film is a belter.
Like the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes when Holmes was up against Moriarty, The Spider Woman is enjoyable pretty much for the same reason; Holmes is up against someone of equal intelligence and there is plenty of entertainment in watching Holmes go about his business in this one - there's a real sense of one upmanship about this film.
As was to become fairly typical with this franchise, Holmes finds himself going undercover; where I've been fooled in the past by Holmes' disguise I spotted this one straight away (then again it was made more obvious by Holmes suggesting he would orchestrate it in an earlier scene). Still it proved amusing that dim-witted Watson couldn't see through it and even funnier when Gilflower arrives later in the film and Watson thinks it's Holmes in disguise again. Whilst seeing Watson in this goofy role is very amusing it's sometimes hard to believe that he ever qualified as a doctor. Still I'm aware that there are those that are gifted academically, but whom don't have a shred of common sense and I suppose that Watson must be a case in point. Anyway I digress...
The ending to this film was different to other Holmes films that I have seen thus far; in this film you felt for once that Holmes wasn't in control and the fact that he is clearly vulnerable this time added a layer of tension that perhaps wasn't quite there in the other films (even if the resolution to said predicament for Holmes seemed to culminate in a somewhat contrived manner).
Still pound for pound The Spider Woman is a very good entry in what has proven to be a very good series so far (I've still got a fair few of these films to watch and really hope that the rest continue in the same or similar vein).
HONOURABLE MENTION; That final line of the film is a belter.