The Girl in the Spider’s Web: A New Dragon Tattoo Story (Review)
The Girl in the Spider’s Web Offers A New Take on Edgy Anti-Hero Lizbeth Slander.
One of the most daring and controversial vigilantes of the new millennium returns in an all-new story, The Girl in the Spider’s Web. Lisbeth Salander is known as a non-nonsense hacker with a penchant for punishing men who hurt women. While I can certainly get behind the idea of a woman taking vengeance on the misogynist scum of the world, especially when she’s played by Claire Foy, The Girl in the Spider’s Web stumbled into a pitfall that I’ve seen all too many times in a lot of the anime I review for Stars & Popcorn. In an attempt to make Lizbeth Slander so much smarter than everyone else around her, The Girl in the Spider’s Web manages to make her boring. Like so many cliche anime characters, Lisbeth Salander spends the film simply waiting to activate her “trap cards” to show that she’s always 10 steps ahead.
This time around, things are personal for the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. In previous stories, she was always avenging those who need her help, but in this new tale, her past has finally caught up with her. The Girl in the Spider’s Web briefly dives into her past to reveal not only what a monster her father was, but that she has a sister (played by Sylvia Hoeks) who was not as fortunate as Lisbeth when it came to escaping this man. Now she finds herself on a collision course for the ultimate family reunion when her sister comes calling for the pound of flesh she feels she deserves after Lisbeth’s betrayal. The only question is how much collateral damage will there be?
I was a big fan of Claire Foy’s from First Man, but her performance in The Girl in the Spider’s Web is far superior to Janet Armstrong. She tackles the role of Salander playing her off as a cold and calculating sociopath. However, unlike so many other “functioning” sociopaths we’ve seen on the big screen, Salander is completely devoid of charm. In this regard, it’s hard to say that I actually liked the character. She might be smart and cunning, but she’s also cold and only uses people for personal gain. This goes double for any character in the film that could be considered a “friend” of hers. Slander exists in such a gray area that I have to consider that maybe I’m not meant to like her. Perhaps she’s supposed to be such a broken character that she isn’t the hero audiences might want, but is the one that’s needed to tell these dark tales that take place in the Swedish underworld.
Director Fede Alvarez is probably best known for his work on horror films such as Evil Dead and Don’t Breathe. For The Girl in the Spider’s Web, he uses the same methods of suspense that he employed in his horror films to raise the stakes until the very end. It feels as though he almost treats Lisbeth Salander as a millennial James Bond. Everything from the surreal music video-esque intro to the gadgets that she employees to the down and dirty fight scenes made me think of the classic British superspy. This is especially true since Alvarez considers that Salander is going Russian mafia members, which essentially means every one of them is “strong-like-bear”. This is where her wits come into play, as Slander has to manipulate the fights using her intelligence. As a huge fan of movie fight scenes done well, I applaud this extra step to make her character and the situations she’s thrown into all the more believable.
The most pleasant surprise for me in The Girl in the Spider’s Web was the appearance of Lakieth Standfield as an NSA agent hot on Slander’s trail. You might remember him from Sorry to Bother You, which came out earlier this year and is a front-runner for one of my favorite films of 2018. This time around he uses his trademark humble and aloof style to create a character that would serve as a perfect rival for Slander. Unfortunately, his character isn’t given the chance to really show us what he’s capable of. Instead, he plays second fiddle to the fabled Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. While his character might not have time to shine, I’m always down to watch Stanfield do what he does best on the big screen, and it was refreshing to see a black face among all the Scandinavians that litter the rest of the movie. Personally, I’d be interested in seeing more of his character, a hacker who also served in the Special Forces and now works for a special division within the NSA.
The Girl in the Spider’s Web is a perfect reflection of its heroine in that it’s a cold film. Slander moves from moment to moment with little to no hesitation and only considers the consequences of her actions in how they might help or hinder her. It’s a character that borders on arrogance to the point that you secretly hope that she meets her match at some point. However, none of the other characters in The Girl in the Spider’s Web managed to live up to the legend of Lisbeth Salander. This is perhaps the most disappointing part of the film. Overall, it’s not nearly smart enough or edgy enough to really do Slander justice. Still, there is a lot to like when it comes to The Girl in the Spider’s Web, but like its hero, it’s not the sequel we want, but just might be the one we need to open her up as a more mainstream hero and all-around badass female character.
