Post by PhantomKnight on Nov 13, 2018 10:53:42 GMT -5
When did Lisbeth Salander turn into an action hero? And when did the Dragon Tattoo franchise turn into Jason Bourne-lite?
The only ways in which The Girl in the Spider's Web resembles the previous Swedish and American adaptations of Steig Larsson's Millennium series are that it has some of the same characters and a similarly dreary color palette. Where once there was atmosphere, intrigue and character development, there's now car chases, shootouts and nuclear launch codes (yes, I'm serious). And this is perhaps the biggest sin of director Fede Alvarez's reboot/sequel: how bland it all is. It eschews all the intrigue and interesting character work of its predecessor for a plot that would feel more at home in either a James Bond or Jason Bourne movie. Now, if this were something original, that'd be one thing, but this is a Lisbeth Salander movie. I can understand the general concept of trying different interpretations of a character, but the sudden leap from damaged soul to action hero in the case of Lisbeth seems particularly jarring in this case. Plus, the script is decidedly more surface-level. The pace of this thing is so relentless that it only leaves time for developments and twists of the strictly plot variety as opposed to anything very character-driven, apart from some very basic stuff. The character of Mikael Blomkvist feels more like window dressing this time around. Strengths of the earlier interpretations all around have been sacrificed for entertainment value.
That said, though...The Girl in the Spider's Web still executes serviceably as an action thriller. While he may lack the opportunity to really create atmosphere like he did in Don't Breathe, director Fede Alvarez does still prove that he knows how to construct a genre movie like this. As a thriller, it's perfectly competent, though a bit too bland to really be that effective. Claire Foy does solid work, though the material for her isn't as deep as what Noomi Rapace and Rooney Mara got to sink their teeth into.
The Girl in the Spider's Web is definitely a step down from what we got before, but at the same time, it's so blandly efficient, that it's a hard movie to really inspire passion about one way or the other.
**/****
