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Nov 12, 2018 · In the typically desolate Scandinavian noir setting of an isolated island off Stockholm, Salander solves the case of a missing girl, alongside journalist Mikael Blomkvist, while coming to terms...
Oct 31, 2018 · The Girl In The Spider’s Web Review. When gifted hacker Lisbeth Salander (Claire Foy) is attacked in her apartment, the assailants make off with a dangerous computer program. As she...
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By Jim Vejvoda
Updated: Nov 7, 2018 7:22 pm
Posted: Nov 6, 2018 6:45 pm
Anchored by a steely performance from Claire Foy as hacker-avenger Lisbeth Salander, The Girl in the Spider’s Web is arguably the most accessible entry in the Dragon Tattoo franchise. It’s more energetic than David Fincher’s artsy and aloof 2011 remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and eschews the series’ more mundane procedural aspects in favor of being a rescue the kid/retrieve the MacGuffin thriller. In that sense then The Girl in the Spider’s Web is more in line with the original Swedish film trilogy, which was itself more “Hollywood” in many ways than Fincher’s rather austere reinterpretation.
This time around, Lisbeth is on the run after a job gone wrong finds her on the bad side of both NSA agent Ed Needham (Lakeith Stanfield) and the Swedish authorities, but her real opponent is her own sister Camilla Salander (Blade Runner 2049’s Sylvia Hoeks). The proverbial sins of the past coming back to haunt Lisbeth -- a character already struggling with plenty of past trauma -- make this a particularly personal battle for her.
What differentiates The Girl in the Spider’s Web -- an adaptation of David Lagercrantz’s novel, the first book in the series following the death of creator Stieg Larsson -- from the other films is that it makes the eponymous Girl the driving force of the story. This entry deemphasizes the role of intrepid investigative reporter Mikael Blomkvist (Sverrir Gudnason) -- who had been the audience’s conduit in the original trilogy and in the Fincher film -- in favor of the dragon tattoo-sporting Lisbeth.
Camilla Salander doesn’t have as much screen time as you might expect, but Sylvia Hoeks plays her with wounded authenticity and icy understatement. Her character’s fire-and-ice look is as stark as Lisbeth’s Goth/punk darkness. Camilla has as much of a traumatic backstory as her sister, with one sibling talking the path of relentless avenger and the other, left behind in a realm of corruption, becoming a remorseless criminal. I wish there had been more time spent exploring the dynamic between these two sisters but the film is hellbent on making sure it keeps moving toward the next suspense sequence.
As he did with Evil Dead and Don’t Breathe, director Fede Alvarez once again puts his female lead through the ringer, with Lisbeth getting shot, punched, strangled, drugged, chased, and almost blown to smithereens at various points. Alvarez stages a series of different action set-pieces here -- a bathroom brawl, a motorcycle chase, a cat-and-mouse sequence at an airport, and a violent break-in at Lisbeth’s home -- with the standout being the climactic attack on the villain’s homebase.
The Girl in the Spider’s Web is a leaner, pulpier screen adventure for Lisbeth Salander, one that places her at the forefront while relegating journalist Mikael Blomkvist to second banana. It offers an interesting foe in the form of Lisbeth’s own sister Camilla, her mirror image in a way, although it opts to keep its focus more on the action and su...
Review scoring
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Lisbeth Salander has basically become a superhero now in The Girl in the Spider’s Web, from the director of Evil Dead.
Jim Vejvoda
Nov 7, 2018 · In the latest and emptiest Salander screen vehicle, “The Girl in the Spider’s Web,” the dragon perches on Salander’s back, its wings fanned and mouth open, like a hungry baby bird.
- Fede Alvarez
- Manohla Dargis
- 3 min
Oct 24, 2018 · The adventures of Lisbeth Salander, the intrepid punk-goth hacker made famous in Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series, continue in The Girl in the Spider’s Web.
Nov 9, 2018 · “The Girl in the Spider’s Web” is essentially the cinematic equivalent of a clip-on version of the nose ring that its central character famously sports throughout—a simulacrum that tries to evoke the edge and danger of the real thing without betraying even the slightest amount of genuine commitment.
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Oct 24, 2018 · The Girl In The Spider’s Web is a dutifully stylish action-thriller that tries to shift Lisbeth Salander into the realm of James Bond, Jason Bourne and Batman. But although it’s...
