This is the third cinematic interpretation (and the second English-language one) of the Lisbeth Salander/Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Swedish thriller book series that was created by the late Stieg Larsson. Based on the first book in the series written by David Lagercrantz instead of Larsson, The Girl in the Spider’s Web faces the uphill battle of living up to the expectations created by the previous books and movies’ many loyal fans.
The Girl in the Spider’s Web neither fully stands on its own nor does it serve as a satisfying sequel to what director David Fincher and stars Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig started in 2011 with the series’ first English-language reboot. Despite its moderately low box office performance, that reboot should have never been rebooted because it still had many exciting places left to explore with direct sequels.
The Girl in the Spider’s Web director Fede Alvarez does a wonderful job of depicting and expanding upon the atmosphere of Salander’s world. The film has a punk/techno/neo-noir style that started with the original Swedish film adaptations, was developed further by Fincher, and has now successfully evolved into something more fast-paced and modern by Alvarez.
Claire Foy is terrific as Salander and lives up to the character’s previous portrayals by the extraordinarily talented Mara and the equally talented Noomi Rapace. While it’s not actor Sverrir Gudnason’s fault, the film makes its biggest error in recasting/adjusting the character of Mikael Blomkvist, a reporter who often gets entangled in Salander’s computer hacker misadventures. Where he was once middle-aged with a charming but somewhat aloof nature, he’s now younger, dashing, and beyond bland. Also, the film’s development of the relationship between Salander and Blomkvist relies far too heavily on the audience’s knowledge of previous book and film interpretations.
In spite of all its issues, there is still some good to be found in The Girl in the Spider’s Web if you can simply take it for what it is and ignore what came before it. Unfortunately, the movie oftentimes makes it quite difficult to do this, as it simply can’t decide if it wants to stand on its own or rely on the weight of what came before it.
GRADE: C+
