Chances are that fans of the Swedish author Stieg Larson’s original Girl
With The Girl The Dragon Tattoo trilogy of books and subsequent movie
versions are going to bitterly disappointed with this latest instalment in
the life of his heroine, Lisbeth Salander.
Adapted from the fourth book in the series, which was written by David
Lagercrantz after Larsson’s death, The Girl In The Spiders Web has more in
common with Jason Bourne and James Bond than it does with any of the
previous novels and movies in the series.
The plot, which moves into Bond territory, now sees Lisbeth (Clare Foy)
being asked by computer scientist Frans Balder (a woefully miscast Stephen
Merchant) to steal his computer program from the servers of the National
Security Agency (NSA), the program gives the holder control over every
other country’s nuclear missiles, and feeling guilty about its
possibilities for world destruction, Balder wants it back.
Lisbeth, once she has successfully stolen the program, finds that she
becomes a target for those that want to steal the program from her.
The story moves along at a fair pace but sadly never feels very engaging,
perhaps this is down to Foy who never seems comfortable in the role. Foy
gives it her best but she lacks the hard edge that both Noomi Rapace, who
played Lisbeth Salander in the original Swedish trilogy, and Mara Rooney,
who played the same part in David Fincher’s remake of The Girl With The
Dragon Tattoo, brought to the role.
Even the supporting cast are far from memorable, Sverrir Gudnason plays the
part of journalist Mikael Blomkvist. In the previous incarnations his role
was pivotal to the story, however here he feels very much like an
afterthought, flirting in and out of the story and adding nothing much to
it when he does appear.
The Girl In The Spiders Web might make for enjoyable viewing if you’ve
never came across any of the previous books or movies but for fans of
Larsson’s previous work this has to go down as a major disappointment and
just smacks of another story that’s been dumbed-down for Hollywood.
