The Girl in the Spider’s Web is a classic case of Hollywood appropriation, where studios take a “foreign” story, strip it off of its angst and trauma and placing it in the hollow mould of a saleable action-thriller that focuses solely on car chases, gun battles, loud blasts, nationalistic fervour and formulaic plots. To expect a business-driven studio to infuse motive, substance or flavour in an action-thriller is like finding love on dating apps – it’s possible but you have to be terribly lucky. Unfortunately, this Fede Álvarez directed addition to the Millennium series (originally by Stieg Larsson), based on David Lagercrantz’s book with the same name, is only interested in ephemerality. The film is easily lost among the multitude of remakes, reboots, sequels, prequels and origin stories that the US produces in bulk, especially around the holiday season, where many franchise genre films appear almost indistinguishable from each other.
- Director: Fede Álvarez
- Cast: Claire Foy, Sverrir Gudnason, Lakeith Stanfield, Sylvia Hoeks, Stephen Merchant
- Storyline: Lisbeth Salander and journalist Mikael Blomkvist fight corrupt officials to safeguard nuclear codes
After Noomi Rapace and Rooney Mara, it’s The Crown ’s Claire Foy who steps into the shoes of Lisbeth Salander, a Goth vigilante with a traumatic past, briefly battles with what truly drives her: injustice towards women. She stealthily enters a wealthy Swedish businessman’s apartment to save a battered woman and transfers money from his bank account as compensation. She’s driven by almost irreparable childhood damage caused by her father, a glimpse of which we see at the start and in the climax. But for the most part, the filmmaker presents her with situations about nuclear warfare, cyber crimes, secret codes, intelligence agencies and predictable clichés of evil motives, making her a blend of female Batman and James Bond, while she could have been so much more. The film buries her individuality under a series of convenient plot twists, even though Foy tries to layer her character with guilt and rage, two emotions that drive her. But there’s only that much an actor can do when a character and situation she’s in is so uninspiring.
Set mostly in Sweden, the spaces and terrain provided for Lisbeth to navigate render captivating visuals. There are blue and grey winter hues to the film throughout, which when coupled with images of frozen lakes and knee-deep snow, bring out the innate coldness of the original narrative. It goes well in tandem with Lisbeth’s dark personality and backstory. But for all of the Scandinavian flavour, you have all the Hollywood fetishes – motorcycles, trucks and bridges – and of course, an American saviour. It’s unfortunate to see Hollywood shape the film with all that’s familiar to them but leave out the essence of the #MeToo movement, which originated in the US but has always been an integral part of Lisbeth’s journey in Scandinavia.
