"The Girl in the Spider's Web" Review - (Non-Spoiler)
While Claire Foy certainly gives her all, The Girl in the Spider’s Web is ultimately an unmemorable, pale imitation of past adaptations of Lisbeth Salander’s stories.
In attempting to reboot the Dragon Tattoo series, the filmmakers and the studio involved have abandoned the brooding mystery of other installments in favor of a much more generic and needlessly convoluted spy action thriller. The plot is entirely unremarkable, full of yawn-inducing scuffles over stereotypical MacGuffins and mind-numbingly predictable double-crosses. While it’s paced fairly well, it all feels like we’re building to a more impactful conclusion than the mostly average climax we’re given.
The film does have a few positives on the technical front. I’m a huge fan of Fede Álvarez, and he does know how to inject his action sequences with some strong tension and vigor. An escape scene set in an airport is perhaps the thrilling highlight of the film. The cinematography is additionally noteworthy, as it perfects captures the chilly, isolating environment of Sweden and the seedy underbelly of this criminal world.
As mentioned previously, Claire Foy is the primary strength of The Girl in the Spider’s Web. She more than delivers when portraying Lisbeth’s fierce demeanor, but she shines in some of her more vulnerable moments as well. Sadly, the rest of the cast fails to make an impression.
Sverrir Gudnason proves to be a dull Mikael Blomkvist, and Sylvia Hoeks isn’t given much to play off of as the villainous Camilla Salander (and it doesn’t help that she enters the picture quite late).
It doesn’t help to compare The Girl in the Spider’s Web to David Fincher’s FAR superior The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but even when taken on its own merits, this is a disappointing waste of the talent involved and a bland non-starter for a future Lisbeth Salander-centric franchise. I'm going to give "The Girl in the Spider's Web" a 4 out of 10.