Lisbeth Salander is an incredible literary character. It’s no wonder The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo captivated us all. I have yet to see the original film trilogy, but I’ve read the three books and I adore David Fincher’s film. Book wise, Dragon Tattoo is incredible. Played with Fire is equally good. Hornet’s Nest feels like a really long epilogue. Now she’s back, with a new author after Steig Larson’s passing, and I don’t know that she should have returned.
From the initial trailer, I was concerned. It felt more like Jason Bourne than Lisbeth Salander. She’s hired by a tech genius to recover a program he’s created that allows the user to take full control of weapons of mass destruction across the world, but the web gets very tangled, pulling her in to pieces of her past.
It was fine, pefectly watchable, but it did not feel like a Lisbeth Salander story. It hit all the surface points of her character, but missed her essence that makes her stories so compelling, making it feel like a cheap knockoff.
I have yet to be sold on Claire Foy. I’m not interested in The Crown, and she hasn’t wowed me yet in anything I’ve seen, but I gave her a chance here. Rooney Mara still wins it for me easily (I can’t speak to Noomi Rapace). Foy was lacking the bite and tenacity that fuels Lisbeth, and she never figured out how to fill her silences so they didn’t feel awkward. Mara captured her edge much more effortlessly, like she wasn’t trying to hard, she just was Lisbeth. I feel like Foy didn’t fully try to become her the way that Mara famously did, and the half effort showed.
I think any character’s name could have been put on this film, and it would have been fine. I just don’t think this was worthy of being named for The Girl
The Girl in the Spider’s Web – \m/ \m/ \n