The Girl in the Spider's Web

The Girl in the Spider's Web videos

Cast & Crew

Claire Foy

Lisbeth Salander

Beau Gadsdon

Young Lisbeth Salander

Sverrir Gudnason

Mikael Blomkvist

LaKeith Stanfield

Ed Needham

Sylvia Hoeks

Camilla Salander

Carlotta von Falkenhayn

Young Camilla Salander

Stephen Merchant

Frans Balder

Christopher Convery

August Balder

Claes Bang

Jan Holster

Synnøve Macody Lund

Gabriella Grane

Cameron Britton

Plague

Vicky Krieps

Erika Berger

Andreja Pejić

Sofia

Mikael Persbrandt

Alexander Zalachenko

Thomas Wingrich

Grane's Home Security

Fede Alvarez

Director

Jay Basu

Screenwriter

Fede Alvarez

Screenwriter

Steven Knight

Screenwriter

Scott Rudin

Producer

Eli Bush

Producer

Ole Søndberg

Producer

Søren Stærmose

Producer

Berna Levin

Producer

Amy Pascal

Producer

Elizabeth Cantillon

Producer

Arnon Milchan

Executive Producer

Robert J. Dohrmann

Executive Producer

David Fincher

Executive Producer

Line Winther Skyum Funch

Executive Producer

Johannes Jensen

Executive Producer

Anni Faurbye Fernandez

Executive Producer

Pedro Luque

Cinematographer

Tatiana S. Riegel

Film Editing

Roque Baños

Original Music

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Critic Reviews for The Girl in the Spider's Web

Audience Reviews for The Girl in the Spider's Web

• May 10, 2019

  The Millennium series is rebooted once again with the somewhat route techno-thriller The Girl in the Spider's Web (the fourth book in the series). After stealing a nuclear control program from the NSA, computer hacker Lisbeth Salander is attacked by a crime syndicate that takes the program and kills the programmer who developed it, and when Lisbeth attempts to get it back she discovers that her estranged sister Camilla is behind the syndicate. Claire Floy leads the cast as Lisbeth, but doesn't have the charisma or mystique of Rooney Mara or Noomi Rapace (the previous Lisbeths). However, the script writers do a good job at adapting and paring down David Lagercrantz's novel; making it more cinematic and compelling. And the action sequences are especially gritty and exciting. While it has its problems, The Girl in the Spider's Web is an entertaining film and a solid reboot of the series.

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  Super Reviewer
• Dec 10, 2018

  I'm fairly certain nobody asked for this. And I'm DAMN sure Sony didn't want to make it. But here we are. The Girl in the Spider's Web is the latest (and probably) last film adaptation of the Millennium franchise. If you may recall a decade ago, a trilogy of books written by Swedish author Stieg Larson gained a cult following internationally, which was followed by a modestly successful low-budget trilogy of films made in Sweden. Not to be left out of the action, Hollywood (in this case Sony) bought the rights to make their own version of the first book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. In what could have been a disaster (See: The Snowman) we instead got a generously funded picture helmed by David Fincher, and scored by Trent Reznor, hot off the success of The Social Network. It was another modest victory for the franchise, making a small profit and several academy award nominations, winning one for film editing. But that wasn't enough for Sony, who wanted an unrealistic $500 million, and refused to back a sequel with comparable cost. Meaning all the A-list talent (Fincher, Reznor, Rooney Mara, and Daniel Craig) walked out the door. Any sequel would be made on the cheap and would not be a priority for the studio. And that's precisely what led us to this pass. The Girl in the Spider's Web. An ill-administered film made years after the franchise had faded, based loosely on a book not written by the creator of the series, by a studio indifferent to its success, and a team not suited for this kind of picture. But credit must be given where it is due. Claire Foy commits admirably to make the best of a doomed situation and must be commended for courage under fire. She is the third actress to play the heroine Lisbeth Salander, and while she is easily the weakest version, she still gives a capable run, dying on a hill no else cared to defend. The film itself makes an inexplicable error - it tries to become an action film in the vein of the Bond series or Mission Impossible. While the Millennium novels have always had connections to 007 (look it up) Lisbeth Salander's adventures were always small scale and slow-burn mysteries. Both the series and the character are ILL EQUIPPED to deal with the game of shadowy terrorist organizations, stolen nuclear codes, dodging explosions, rogue NSA agents, hallway firefights, and chases involving motorcycles and supercars. I shit you not. That is the plot of our Girl with the Dragon Tattoo sequel. There is a scene early on in which Salander does what she does best - punishing the shit out of assholes who abuse women. And that's probably the best scene of the film, because it is the only one with any pulse. While it's obvious that they probably should have made smaller scale versions of the rest of the original trilogy instead of this misfire, I'm not sure they could even accomplish that. Some characters from the series return in dramatically altered form, such as Mikael Blomkvist, and are largely given nothing to do. Fede Álvarez was successful in his attempt to remake Evil Dead for the 21st century, but it's clear that he was given little freedom here, as there is little to no artistic stamp present. Gone is the neurotic, but charming claustrophobia of the Swedish trilogy or the cold, slick beauty of Fincher's film. What we have is a lifeless, pointless piece of drivel filled to brim with action and double-crosses, yet it remains boring and inert. I highly doubt this is going to get any academy awards. I can't even recommend Spider's Web as a rental or on Netflix. You have better things to do with your time.

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  joshua s Super Reviewer
• Dec 10, 2018

  Itï¿ 1/2(TM)s a weird feeling walking into a movie and already having the perspective it was a mistake to make. Needless to say, there were both low expectations and very little desire to see The Girl in the Spiderï¿ 1/2(TM)s Web , but the fact director Fede Alvarez (2013ï¿ 1/2(TM)s Evil Dead, Donï¿ 1/2(TM)t Breathe) was at the helm did offer some hope. While this new Lisbeth Salander story isnï¿ 1/2(TM)t actively bad it is a rather dim film both in terms of its aesthetic and some of the decisions both the plot and its characters make. Examples? Sure-within a single scene weï¿ 1/2(TM)re led to believe that a main child character is something of a genius and also that he wouldnï¿ 1/2(TM)t know better than to take the bait of his dead dad calling his cell phone which is of course a ploy so the bad guys can track him. Alvarez also gets a screenwriting credit alongside Jay Basu and Steven Knight ( Locke) and while there is a sense of some symmetry, some poetry even, to the writing there simply isnï¿ 1/2(TM)t that solid hook that pulls one into the mystery of it all as a good crime thriller or murder/mystery should. There are some really brutal and fairly creative moments in terms of the many kills that happen and the sometimes extreme emphasis on the violence of those situations, but how much of this should be credited to the screenwriters and how much comes from the David Lagercrantz novel is uncertain. On the other end of things, some of the action Alvarez stages is borderline incomprehensible and Foy, for all her effort, gets to actually act in maybe one scene. Why Sony wouldnï¿ 1/2(TM)t cut Fincherï¿ 1/2(TM)s budget in half and let him continue his franchise with Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig will always be something of a mystery, but in attempting to re-boot the franchise (with only an $8 million opening weekend I think we can safely assume this franchise is dead) Sony has made a movie that was both a waste of time for them and, unfortunately, the small audience that will venture out to see it.

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  philip p Super Reviewer
• Nov 18, 2018

  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was an international best-selling trilogy that gave way to three hit Swedish movies, one Hollywood remake that netted a Best Actress nomination, and millions in worldwide revenue. The problem was that its author, Stieg Larsson, died of a heart attack in 2004, before the publication of any of the original novels. The property was too valuable to simply collect dust and thus a new author came aboard to tell further adventures of Lisbeth Salander, the pint-sized Gothic avenger. A new set of novels began being published in 2015, and after David Fincher's 2011 version underperformed at the box-office, it seemed expected to reboot the franchise with a new big screen story that had yet to be adapted. In steps a new director, a new dragon-tattooed lady for The Girl in the Spider's Web. Unfortunately, my fears have come true and the eventual reckoning has happened: they have made Lisbeth Salander boring. Lisbeth (Claire Foy) is thrown into another criminal conspiracy with shadowy forces at play. A network of high-powered assassins, known as "spiders," has stolen a dangerous technology that will allow the user control of nuclear arsenals. Lisbeth is hired to retrieve this tech, betrayed, and then on the run from Swedish authorities, professional killers, a dogged NSA operative (Laketih Stanfield), and the head of this cabal, Camilla Salander (Sylvia Hoeks, Blade Runner 2049), her long lost sister Lisbeth left behind years ago. In her first 2010 outing, Salander was presented as a complex, emotionally withdrawn figure, eminently capable but flawed, hurt, and looking to punish others from her fraught history with terrible men. Strip away all the Gothic trinkets and camouflage, her assertions of identity, and she's still a deeply intriguing human being. However, even the latter Swedish films started veering in this more derivative direction. As I wrote presciently with the second Swedish Dragon Tattoo movie back in 2010: "We project the interest we felt for her from the first film to the Salander stand-in represented in the second film. She's still a resourceful, loyal, and cavalier presence, but the plot corners her into being a creature of action. She becomes the fantasy bisexual ass-kicking protagonist that was merely hinted at previously. That sounds like a good thing, but trust me, it does the audience a disservice to box in such a fascinating character." With Spider's Web, Lisbeth Salander has become a Gothic Jason Bourne spy figure, and as anyone who has seen the Bourne movies can attest, he's the most boring character in his own movies, which is why he needs to be kept constantly on the move and hunted. He's only interesting when he's getting out of jams, and Lisbeth is now sadly in that realm. Lisbeth has been reduced to her most essential, and most superficial, characteristics, which also go for the film as a whole. The Dragon Tattoo series began as a twisty investigative procedural with a litany of suspects and dark secrets worth killing over. From there, the Swedish films turned Lisbeth into an indestructible Terminator capable of getting the drop on anyone and axe-fighting oversized men. The Swedish series began more grounded as a mystery/thriller and suddenly, and regrettably, transformed into a preposterous Hollywood-style action-thriller, following the edict of bigger being better. That same mentality has carried over past Larsson's contributions, and now Lisbeth has become an action superhero and the series has become trashy fun, high-calorie junk food, a safe excursion to a seedy underbelly. The Girl in the Spider's Web still provides a consistent degree of entertainment, but it's not playing at a higher level, content to hand-wave away its story for cool chases and fights. It's the kind of movie where, to escape an encroaching fireball, Lisbeth dives into a bathtub of water. It makes for a visually interesting shot but it's pretty cliché 90s action movie stuff. Director Fede Alvarez has a slick handle with visuals and evidenced real talent at sustaining and developing tension with 2016's Don't Breathe. He has obvious visual talent. There are some engaging fights, like a close-quarter struggle in a bathroom, and some nifty chase scenes, like a motorcycle chase over a frozen lake. I would have liked even more action if Spider's Web was going to brush aside narrative and moral complexity for stylish set pieces. The story of The Girl in the Spider's Web feels like a lukewarm repackaging of spy clichés, and the film does little to make any of it feel important or relevant. There's a super powerful technology that everyone wants, which falls into the wrong hands, and now it's about retrieving this device and saving the world. That's like the plot of just about every James Bond movie. It's a formula, but where Spider's Web missteps are that it doesn't add anything else to this staid foundation. There are scenes but it's usually about this group going after this group, or this group now going after this group, and without wider relevance it becomes redundant plot placeholders, something meant to distract long enough to get our characters from Point A to Point B. With a mystery, there's a natural momentum that builds as the case builds coherency and the investigation focuses the direction. With action thriller mode, Spider's Web just has a bunch of guys that occasionally interact until the movie needs some of them dead. This model by itself can work but it requires concerted effort, and that just isn't present here. The most interesting aspect of Spider's Web is the further examination on Salander's troubled upbringing, this time introducing a sister that has been plotting vengeance. Salander is, first and foremost, the selling point of this franchise; she is, after all, the titular girl with that particular tattoo. She is what separates this from any other paperback thriller. The Swedish sequels opened up her past traumas with her Soviet-defected father. He was the Big Bad Man behind the scenes trying to institutionalize and neutralize her. While skirting into the above-stated dangerous territory, the Swedish sequels still knew that Lisbeth Salander's complicated history was the real mystery the audience craved, and it set up a series of antagonists ready to be foiled for years-in-the-making payback. I don't really know how the events of Spider's Web gibe with the overall series. I had to look up whether the evil father in the opening was the same evil father in the other films (both are listed as Alexander Zalachenko, so I think so). But the established history has Lisbeth committed after trying to set dear old dad on fire to save her abused mother. I don't see how any of that is likely if she escapes her father's clutches as a pre-teen and is supposedly on the run. The secret Salander sister revelation also impacts little. She was the one left behind, whose continued abuse and degradation are strongly referenced. It doesn't feel like Lisbeth harbors great guilt over leaving her sister behind. During their final face-to-face, Camilla actually poses a worthy question: "Why did the woman who hurts men who hurt women never come back and save her own abused sister?" Because this storyline is flagrantly underdeveloped, the evil sister angle is a cheap twist. There's nothing to the Camilla character, so she serves as a symbol of shame, and yet the movie doesn't seem to capitalize on this in the slightest, which is a puzzling disservice. Foy (Netflix's The Crown, First Man) is having a big year for herself but feels slightly miscast. She never really gets an opportunity to show off her range, which is a byproduct of the streamlined, reductionist screenplay emphasizing bare plot mechanics. She is missing the intensity or fire that we've seen in prior Salanders, breakout-star Noomi Rapace and the Oscar-nominated Rooney Mara. When Foy tries for glower you see the effort. She's more grumpy than tortured, like maybe she skipped a meal. Even with the requisite piercings, tattoos, and black leather wardrobe, Foy seems a bit too clean-cut for the part. Personal admission: Foy with her sharp bangs, saucer-eyes, facial shape, and Gothic accessories, looks remarkably like an ex-girlfriend of mine from the early 2000s. That was something that kept sneaking into my mind throughout the film, which made the experience a tad stranger as if I was imagining an ex engaged in action heroics. Even excusing that personal connection, Foy ranks a distant third place for the Girls With. The new Dragon Tattoo movie will likely also be its last. I can't imagine fans getting too much pleasure out of a streamlined, underdeveloped spy thriller that sands away the edge and complexity of its characters for rote action movie chases. It's not a bad movie and it does carry moments of excitement and entertainment, but it's also become a standard Hollywood thriller, no different than a dozen other high-tech, junky hacker thrillers. The Girl in the Spider's Web gets caught in its own formulaic web. If Lisbeth Salander has been transformed into a standard action hero, then we don't deserve more adventures. Nate's Grade: C

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  nathan z Super Reviewer