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THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER'S WEB
Director: Fede Alvarez Cast: Claire Foy, Sverrir Gudnason, Lakeith Stanfield, Sylvia Hoeks, Stephen Merchant, Christopher Convery, Cameron Britton, Vicky Krieps, Synnøve Macody Lund MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:57 Release Date: 11/9/18 |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | November 8, 2018 It's easy enough to understand the appeal of Lisbeth Salander, the master hacker from Stockholm with a dragon tattoo, a shadowy past, and a drive to punish men who hurt women. Assorted filmmakers have tried to bring her to the screen twice before now, with a trilogy of Swedish movies based on the late Stieg Larsson's novels and an American remake of the first installment of that series. None of them worked for varying reasons, although none of those reasons included the character at the heart of the movies—a justifiably angry and vengeful woman who targets men of power and influence, after being abused by a string of men who had power and influence over her. Salander was played with ruthless certainty by Noomi Rapace in the first series and with far less certainty by Rooney Mara in the remake. In The Girl in the Spider's Web, Claire Foy takes over the role in an American production of an adaptation of a novel—written by a completely different author—that's a sequel to Larsson's trilogy, even though we've only had one entry in that series remade by an American production team. It's almost a guarantee that the background information for this sequel/reboot will cause confusion, and the level of one's confusion is entirely dependent upon one's familiarity with the original movies, the remake, or both. If it's any consolation, the filmmakers here seem confused, too. Once again, a movie featuring this character finds itself in possession of a number of flaws, a good number of them having to do with this entry trying to distance itself from the previous stories, which turns out to be impossible. It's a sequel, but also, it's really not a sequel, because nobody involved with any of the preceding movies is involved in this one. It's a reboot, but it really can't be one, since so much of what happens here depends on our familiarity with what happened in the previous stories. The screenplay by Jay Basu, director Fede Alvarez, and Steven Knight (based on David Lagercrantz's novel) expends a lot of effort trying to balance this material for aficionados and newcomers alike. The result is a movie that feels more like an homage to its predecessors than a genuine sequel, a self-contained story, or an attempt to expand our understanding of its central character. Salander is still up to her old ways at the story's start, tormenting a man who was recently acquitted of assaulting two sex workers, only to return home to abuse his wife. The rest of the plot involves a top-secret computer program, created by Frans Balder (Stephen Merchant) while he was contracted with the NSA, that gives a single user access to any missile system that's connected to the internet. Balder believes the program could be used for nefarious purposes (Do you think?), so he hires Salander to steal it from the NSA and return it to him. There are complications, of course, involving a Russian crime syndicate and an NSA employee named Edwin Needham (Lakeith Stanfield), who travels to Stockholm to find the stolen program. After the Russian criminals steal the program from Salander and destroy her apartment in the process, Balder believes she has betrayed him. The Swedish security agency places Balder into hiding with his young son August (Christopher Convery). From there, the plot is little more than a series of chases, with Salander looking for Balder, hoping to find her attempted murderers, who are hunting Balder, who's apparently the only man who knows how to get past the missile program's encryption. Helping Salander is a familiar name with a new face: Mikael Blomkvist (Sverrir Gudnason), the journalist who previously aided the hacker and made her a local name. More chases, a few fights, and a lot of killings follow. Foy takes over the role quite easily. She's adept at balancing the intensity of the character's drive to right wrongs and the old wounds that created that drive. Watching her performance is to be disappointed, though, because the material doesn't do justice to her work or the character. After a long hunt for the story's MacGuffin, the third act is devoted to Salander facing off against her long-lost sister Camilla (Sylvia Hoeks), a victim of their father's abuse and the heir to his criminal empire. There's something to this conflict that could help illuminate more about Salander (as convenient as the sudden revelation/appearance of a seemingly important part of her life may be), but it's mostly an excuse for a violent climax. Even though it has little to do with the previous movies, The Girl in the Spider's Web continues the series' short-changing of its characters in favor of elaborate and contrived plotting. Copyright © 2018 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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(for violence, language and some sexual content/nudity)
