Directed by:
Fede AlvarezCinematography:
Pedro LuqueComposer:
Roque BañosCast:
Claire Foy, Sylvia Hoeks, Lakeith Stanfield, Sverrir Gudnason, Stephen Merchant, Vicky Krieps, Synnøve Macody Lund, Cameron Britton, Mikael Persbrandt (more)VOD (3)
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Claire Foy stars in a Dragon Tattoo story as Lisbeth Salander, the highly-skilled vigilante from the acclaimed Millennium book series. Salander and journalist Mikael Blomkvist find themselves caught in a web of spies, cybercriminals and corrupt government officials, as they race to rescue a dangerous programme capable of global destruction held by shadowy figures linked to Lisbeth’s past. (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)
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Reviews (10)
Contemporary Hollywood really did quite something special with this sequel to the story of cult hacker Lisbeth Salander... The casting of the title role alone is highly questionable. Noomi Rapace is probably unbeatable in it, and maybe only Rooney Mara could adequately replace her a few years ago. The actor playing journalist Mikael Blomkvist probably needs no mention. It's the same thing but in pale blue. It takes a lot of self-confidence to skip the second and third parts and make a fourth. According to the mentioned facts, the result also seems to reflect that. This is a typical overseas-produced action thriller without a shred of invention, with the main characters desperately lacking in charisma. Maybe it was only the fast pace of the plot that made me finish the film. (40%)
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Is Lisbeth Salander the most interesting European heroine of the last decade? Maybe she is and maybe she isn't. However, watching all the attempts to adapt her stories for so many years is quite an ordeal. Noomi Rapace had the trilogy and the series, while Rooney Mara unfortunately only had the American remake of the first part, and now Claire Foy is here with the fourth (!) part. The fact that Hollywood doesn't have a second and third part is pretty funny. Personally, I'm even more amused by the fact that in Noomi Rapace's time Claire Foy was known only as Dickens' Amy Dorrit, which really doesn't make for any consistent career work. So what's next? Will there be a next time? And will any other actresses who are just now creating classic series on the BBC be starring in the fifth series? It would be magical because I long ago stopped believing in the pluses Millennium could offer anyway. And yet the potential of this material is so great.
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If I didn't have a weakness for Lisbeth Salander and Claire Foy (and the criminally underused Vicky Krieps), I would rate this film more harshly. I don’t mind that the filmmakers have definitively turned Lisbeth it into a comic book superheroine who treats wounds with superglue, snorts a crushed amphetamine tablet to get up, can move from place to place at lightning speed and needs less time to hack the NSA than to make coffee for an ordinary mortal (Larsson’s trilogy was already headed in this direction). The problem is how they slapdashedly modified the plot to be substantially more layered with multiple perspectives taking into account (and alternating with) the work upon which it is based and the manner of storytelling. Events are connected to each other in a terribly careless and repetitive way, based on the same pattern (someone tries to kidnap/kill someone, that person is captured/escapes and around we go again). Despite signs of psychologisation (Lisbeth’s trauma due to her sister’s betrayal), the characters behave as if they are in a run-of-the-mill action film and their foolish decisions are too frequently not fatal for them due only to fortunate coincidences and magically flawless timing. The visual style, derived from Scandinavian noir and punk as well as S&M aesthetics and merely copying Fincher and Alvarez much more than the slow revealing shots evoking unease and unpleasant feelings (such as the first one after the Bond-esque opening credits), uses fast, chaotic cutting that buries the entire atmosphere. The director is apparently most “at home” during scenes with elements of horror, which make up the only aspect that is not as painfully generic and interchangeable as the rest. I would be glad to see Claire Foy again in the role of Lisbeth Salander, but not in a film that most reminds me of the feminist answer to Crank. 55%
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Honestly, apart from the first film in the original Swedish trilogy, I was only really hooked by the first one; the others either weren’t worth much or were purely frustrating, but I didn’t get any special feelings from them. I still haven't seen Fincher’s American remake of the first film...we’ll see, maybe I’ll get around to it eventually. However, I was very interested in this latest addition because it offers a storyline that hasn’t been explored by the Swedes before. Alvarez caught my attention with Evil Dead, a fantastic thriller through and through. That’s why I was quite looking forward to The Girl in the Spider’s Web. It didn’t disappoint me, but it didn’t exactly blow me away either. I think Claire Foy was well-cast in the role of Lisbeth Salander; she convincingly captured her image and her behavior was quite close to the original when you compare it. On the other hand, the actor playing the main journalist disappointed me; I would have chosen someone else for that role. The action wasn’t bad; some scenes were well-shot, but I still wonder if they should have focused more on the thriller aspects rather than the action. Still, it was well done. I give it 64%.
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Fede Alvarez, the director of the Evil Dead remake and the thriller Don't Breathe, has a go at the action genre with a well-known book and, though I would have been happier if he had stuck to horror, he doesn't put spy action thrillers to shame. I liked Claire Foy as Lisbeth Salander and she is unexpectedly deft in the action. Story-wise the film doesn't surprise that much, though there are a few plot twists, but none outright breathtaking, and the action itself is very accomplished, especially the original sniper finale enriched with elements I don't think I've seen before. The contact fights are also good. It's not as good as the Swedish trilogy or David Fincher's version, but the film didn't offend in the cinema and those who are in the mood for a spy action flick shouldn't be downright disappointed. Visually and directorially it was done to perfection. 70%
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