United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden · 2018
Rated R · 1h 57m
Director Fede Alvarez
Starring Claire Foy, Sverrir Gudnason, Lakeith Stanfield, Sylvia Hoeks
Genre Action, Crime, Thriller
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In Stockholm, Sweden, hacker Lisbeth Salander is hired by Frans Balder, a computer engineer, to retrieve a program that he believes it is too dangerous to exist.
It’s watchable enough but let down by a strange lack of interest in presenting Salander as anything but an engine to propel a plot. More female action heroes is by no means a bad thing but forcing Salander into Bond’s shoes feels like a misstep, her intellect and survivalism suited to far more interesting pursuits.
The Hollywood Reporter by Deborah Young
The filmmakers take a heroic, action-packed, high-tech approach that empties out some of the originality of this unique female heroine.
It was probably inevitable that Hollywood would neuter the best elements of Stieg Larsson’s “Millennium” franchise, but did the producers really need to shift it into a commonplace cross between a superhero flick and James Bond?
The Girl in the Spider’s Web has essentially refashioned Lisbeth Salander into a superhero.
Once intriguingly strange, Lisbeth Salander returns as a boring action hero, her rough edges sanded down.
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.
Arizona Republic by Randy Cordova
Unfortunately, nothing in the film –Foy's performance included – cuts the chill, and you're left trapped in a big, wintry void.
Film Journal International by Stephen Whitty
Foy and Alvarez have still spun the old and new elements together in an effective web. If this is a trap, it’s one you won’t hurry to escape from—or even fear being caught in again.
Screen International by Tim Grierson
Lacking the freshness of the original trilogy or the meticulous, insidious tone of Fincher’s film, Spider’s Web mostly feels like a holding action to ensure that more sequels can be made in the future. That timidity flies in the face of this series’ inherent edginess.
The Girl in the Spider’s Web is such an absorbing airplane novel of a movie that you half expect to walk out of the theater and into O’Hare International. Your flight was on time, and the turbulence was totally badass.
Left with nothing. Capable of anything.
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