The Girl in the Spider's Web

Not simply a worthy addition to David Fincher’s vastly under-appreciated "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" franchise (they’re calling it a “soft reboot,” but there’s nothing soft about it), The Girl in the Spider’s Web is also a top-shelf Batman movie. For good measure, it kicks the butt of the last few Bourne installments too.

“Spider’s Web” may have its flaws, including a bit of villainous motivation so oversimplified it makes Dr. Evil’s thought processes look like Einstein’s. And yet despite Lisbeth’s makeover, there’s still something cool, complicated and compelling about this “Girl.” Lisbeth may be stuck in a silly movie, but she’s nobody’s victim.

Lisbeth is never going to be cuddly or sunny, but that doesn’t mean she has to be robotic or impossible to read. That’s something that Foy and Alvarez clearly understand, and the result is a heroine not only worth cheering for, but one worth loving and even understanding.

I don’t hold Larsson’s novels in enough esteem to mind a theoretical sanding down of them into B-movie popcorn fare, but this isn’t the way to do it.

This glum crime franchise, unfolding against a backdrop of blighted concrete chill and semi-derelict industrial spaces, is evolving into Scandinavia’s anti-hygge.

The worst thing about The Girl in the Spider’s Web — the element likely to enrage most fans of the franchise — is how it betrays its central character by eradicating almost every aspect that made her so initially fascinating.

The stars were misaligned from the start for this frantic, turgid thriller. That’s no knock on Ms. Foy, who might have surprised us if she’d had a different director working from a different script under a different set of studio imperatives that didn’t involve extracting blood from a very cold stone.

I love Lisbeth salander! She is extremely smart, resourceful and mentally and physically strong. In this latest installment of the franchise, she must stay on her toes in order to stay alive and keep those she cares about from harm. Some of her feats are a bit hard to believe. The timing of a couple of her rescues and all the pieces that ust fall into place are not wholly believable. But, if you like strong women characters and fast paced action, this is a great film for you. I enjoyed it and was completely entertained.

A spin-off from Stieg Larson's famous books. Adapted to present times. Some dark scenes. Focus more on action.

Solid enough thriller without being memorable. The conversion of Lisbeth from anti-hero hacker to action star just doesn't quite payoff.

This is a surprisingly bad movie. It seems as if the writer, the director and the actors had no interest at all in making this movie. The casting is terrible, only some of the minor characters are really fine like Cameron Britton as Plague or LaKeith Stanfield as Needham. The writer(s) did not simplify the book by Larsson, which certainly would have been necessary, but completely rewrote it, dumbing it down into a caricature of an action movie in the process. While it is a strength of the books and of the other movies based on them, to embed the plot in a tight web of well-conceived characters and (sometimes) plausible depicted institutions, here all is reduced to stereotypes taken from other US-American B-movies.

Dans ce (déjà !) 5ème Millénium, Claire Foy a remplacé Rooney Mara qui avait remplacé Noomi Rapace... mais les deux remplaçantes s'en sortent fort bien, ce qui n'est pas le cas du remplaçant du journaliste dont le rôle est ici bien pâlot et quasiment accessoire. C'est que de toute façon, ce Millénium a pris une toute autre direction, à l'opposé de ce qui en faisait son originalité... le seul point commun désormais avec les films précédents est le suivant : ça se passe en Suède. Et c'est tout. Pour le reste, il s'agit d'un mélange de conneries très hollywoodiennes directement inspirées des conneries de Clancy ou de ces conneries de bourneries : on mélange là-dedans des gadgets (c'est-à-dire Splinter Cell avec un brin de Watch Dogs pour faire bonne mesure -au point où on en est !) et des missiles nucléaires sur le départ (ils se font chier dans la salle d'attente, si quelqu'un pouvait s'en occuper... ou les recevoir... ah non, pas les recevoir !). Comme Jack Ryan n'en a Ryan à fout' et que Jason Bourne est une burne, c'est notre féministe justicière Lizbeth qui s'y colle. Elle pirate les ascenseurs, les voitures, les aéroports et tout le toutim et si les vilains sont apparemment une vieille histoire familiale, c'est à l'insu de son plein gré et de son ignorance. En tout cas, on ne s'ennuie pas et tout ce merdier est rondement mené (avec le gamin autiste aussi, c'est évidemment un cliché ambulant obligatoire de nos jours). La réalisation est dans l'ensemble correcte sauf...dans les combats au corps-à-corps où c'est n'importe quoi. Et on rigole de temps en temps devant ce tissu de conneries très épais... mais on rit surtout jaune en fait. Millénium, ça ? cette blague...