Jeri Jacquin
In theatres from director Fede Alvarez and Columbia Pictures
is a continuation story of someone who finds herself once again as THE GIRL IN
THE SPIDER’S WEB.
Lisbeth Salander (Claire Foy) has once again become
invisible although wanted by the police. Making it her goal to stop innocent
people from being hurt, she manages to do so while faded into the
background…but not for long.
She is approached by Frans Balder (Stephen Merchant) who has
created a program called Firewall when he was a NSA employee. This program has
nuclear codes all over the world and now believes that he created a monster
that everyone else wants to control. He asks Lisbeth to retrieve it so it can
be destroyed.
She agrees and gets inside the NSA’s computer as a horrified
Edwin Neeham (Lakeith Stanfield), NSA security, looks on trying to stop it. He
immediately locates where the hack has come from and leaves for Europe . Neeham isn’t the only one looking for Firewall as
Lisbeth is attacked. She turns to Mikael Blomkvist (Sverrir Gudnason), the Millennium journalist and even though
their relationship turned rocky, she trusts him. He discovers that a group of
Russian criminals are after Firewall.
Keeping track of Balder, she also worries for his young son
August (Christopher Convery) as who ever else wants Firewall would have no
trouble killing him. Keeping him safe becomes important to Lisbeth even if her
hardened shell is still in tact.
Blomkvist turns to Gabriella Grane (Synnove Lund), Deputy
Director of the Swedish Secret Service to discover who the men are with the
spider tattoos. She has her own agenda keeping an eye on Neeham who she
believes is also looking for Lisbeth.
With the cat and mouse happening between she, the spider
tattoo goons and Neeham, there is one person she never expected to see. Someone
from her past who has picked up the mantel of a father who is responsible for
how Lisbeth came to be – Camilla (Sylvia Hoeks).
Lisbeth Salander makes no exceptions for evil!
Foy as Salander gives a stoic performance in the role of a
character that doesn’t show much emotion. Everything that she shares emotion
wise is all in her eyes. With every plan you can see the wheels turning jumping
the track whenever she needs to change gears. This is a far cry from her comfy
life in highly successful series The
Crown but that’s the point of growing as an actress – bowl cut your hair
and don’t be afraid to jump on a motorcycle.
Merchant as Balder is a man clearly afraid that those who
have Firewall are going to use it to harm more than protect. Balder’s role
might not be a big one but it sets the story up for his castmate. Convery as August is a young boy who is as
smart as his father but that doesn’t mean his fate isn’t being determined but
someone smart but psychotic. This character is like Lisbeth in that he keeps
his emotions in check trusting that he will get home to his mother.
Stanfield as Neeham panics when he sees Firewall has been
hacked and knows the only thing he can do is find out who took it and why.
Neeham’s character is just as determined as Lisbeth but he has one obstacle. Lund
Gudnason as Blomkvist is thrilled to hear from Lisbeth
because his feelings for her haven’t changed. At the same time, the journalist
in him sees the potential of cracking open the mystery of what is happening by
following Lisbeth forward. Hoeks as Camilla is the sister none of us wants to
deal with. The history that Camilla and Lisbeth share is of two survivors of an
abusive father – one turns to trying to save others while the other turns to
destruction. Hoeks is completely disturbing in her portrayal and scenes with
Foy are intense.
Other cast include Carlotta von Falkenhayn as a young
Camilla, Vicky Krieps as Erika Berger, Cameron Britton as Plague, Andreia Pelic
as Maria, and Mikael Persbrandt as Zalachenko.
Let me first get this out of the way, the Noomi Rapace is my
Lisbeth Salander and in 2008 when THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO was released
I could not have been more thrilled with the film. This was followed months
later with THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE and months later with THE GIRL WHO
KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST. This was the best three films I have ever seen and
all released in one year proving that it is possible to make stunning films without
two and three year gaps.
In 2011, the remake hit the theatres with Rooney Mara and Daniel
Craig in THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO and as much as I enjoy these two
actors, I wasn’t thrilled with the film. I don’t mind saying it either, there
was absolutely no reason to remake it and I could not get behind the choice for
Lisbeth Salander.
The choice of Claire Foy as the new Lisbeth Salander has one
thing in her favor, this isn’t a remake. Instead it’s actually more of an
explanation of where this character came from and how the past is never far
behind any of us. Foy captures bits of the 2009 Salander but clearly makes her
own mark as well.
As for the film, I enjoyed it but also have to say that the
plot was fairly straight forward and slightly predictable. I feel as if I’ve
seen these plot points before in other films and wished there was more umph to
it. The action is definitely something I would expect to see in the Millennium series and the film lives up
to that most certainly.
Understand that with the death of the series creator Steig
Larsson in 2004, the characters are picked up by David Lagercrantz. This is his
first novel taking over the series and it was released in 2015. It is not an
easy thing to bring in another writer to keep a series going because, and let’s
be honest, they aren’t Larsson. That being said Lagercrantz manages to keep
Lisbeth Salander alive by bringing her past forward for us all to understand.
He also seemed to take great care in being true to the complexities created by
Larsson
For those who love the Millennium
series, this new story and film is interesting and full of action. Foy gives
Salander new life and if they plan to continue the films, keep the stories
fresh and the fan base will stay true.
In the end – the past never forgets!
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