The Girl in the Spider’s Web

The Girl in the Spider’s Web is the rare large budget WLW movie made for a mainstream audience. The noticeable presence of a budget is the only thing that’s keeping me from giving this movie a negative review. Because yeah, the film has some good action set pieces and the ability to execute ambitious plot points most WLW films could only dream of. But beyond the film’s ability to shoot an aerial shot of a car flipping off a snowy road, the story and especially characters in the film were substandard.

The Girl in the Spider’s Web is meant to be a standalone film reintroducing Lisbeth Salander to movie audiences. In this adventure, Lisbeth acquires a program that gives her access to nuclear codes. This makes her a target for others trying to acquire this piece of technology. Lisbeth learns that those involved in the situation have ties to her late father who was a major crime lord. Lisbeth additionally deals with guilt and memories of escaping her abusive father and leaving her sister behind. Well, wouldn’t you know it? Her sister, Camilla is now the head of her father’s organization.

The film’s queerness is minimal. But that makes sense. Lisbeth is too busy being exploded and politely kidnapping child savants to have much time for bi girl shit. The queerness is relegated to one scene where she has a female guest who she shares some exposition to post-sexy times. This character later shows up again to give LaKeith Steinfeld, who tells her Lisbeth has lots of female lovers, a way of contacting Lisbeth. It should be noted that the actress playing this character interest is trans. The film never mentions this. It was cool to see a trans character have a role not hinging on their gender identity. It’s also depressing that it’s a step up for trans representation. I dream of a future when characters of all gender and sexuality can be an undefined love interest here to advance the goals of more plot-relevant characters.

The problem here is that generally, I compare WLW films to other WLW films. But I’m not grading Spider’s Web on this curve. Its presence of budget and minimal queerness means it’s easier to compare it to other action thrillers. More directly, it’s hard not to compare it to the four other Lisbeth Salander films that came out previously. I think the American The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is a weaker adaption than the Swedish one and only a mid-level work for director David Fincher. But that film is still so much better than Spider’s Web. The same is true with the character of Lisbeth. Claire Foy is fine here. But Rooney Mara’s portrayal of the character got her an Oscar nomination and that portrayal still comes second to Noomi Rapace’s for me.

Not only did I watch all previous film adaptions featuring Lisbeth Salander, I read the books too. I have some pretty strong opinions on Lisbeth Salander. She’s a great character with a high degree of difficulty to get right. The Girl in the Spider’s Web was not up to the challenge. I hate what they’ve made of Lisbeth here. She’s gone from socially awkward hacker who finds herself embroiled in plots against her will to a vigilante with a taste for the dramatic. This version of Lisbeth is very susceptible to power creep. Her hacking skills have evolved to being able to hack a parkade full of cars with her phone no problem. She survives her apartment exploding because she sought refuge in a bathtub. And after super-gluing her gunshot wound, she’s good to go.

Beyond characters, the plot here feels desperate and convoluted. This isn’t necessarily the film’s fault as it’s true to the source material but either way, it’s disappointing. I feel like you’re in a bad place in your franchise when you’re introducing hitherto unknown genius siblings as villains. It gave me unwelcome flashbacks to Sherlock season 4. They also have no idea what to do with Mikael Blomquist so he’s just kind of there, I guess. Spider’s Web takes what was a very character-focused thriller franchise and throws out the character focus. The problem is that the plot, which is now the priority, is not particularly strong either.

The film’s successes are really just an acceptable level of competence plus budget. The action sequences here are fine. And director Fede Alvarez can effectively drum up tension in individual scenes. Lots of individual scenes in this work, especially when those scenes are heavier on action than plot. The cinematography here is also pretty good. I also liked Sylvia Hoeks’ performance as Camilla. Despite my complaints, Camilla had a lot of potential as a character. It’s a bummer that she showed up so late in the film that they didn’t entirely mine this story line for all its worth.

What I learned from watching The Girl in the Spider’s Web is that I have strong feelings about Lisbeth Salander as a character. This is the most inferior depiction of this character. The film feels edgy for the sake of it, including its depictions of violence against women. Even without my personal feelings on the franchise and this character, the film is still a middling and derivative action thriller. Yeah, it holds together for two hours and hired some people good at their jobs. But the only thing remarkable about the film is how much of a come down it is from previous instalments in this franchise.

Overall rating: 5.5/10

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