Sony Pictures Entertainment announced a quasi-reboot of the Millennium series back in Nov. 2015, by adapting David Lagercrantz’s first entry in the series, The Girl in the Spider’s Web. This means skipping the two novels in between, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, both of which were written by The Girl with the Dragon Tattooauthor Stieg Larsson. Then it was announced that the reboot would have an all-new cast directed by Uruguayan filmmaker Fede Alvarez. Alvarez, best known for directing 2013’s Evil Dead and 2016’s Don’t Breathe, is perhaps more adept in creating suspense than exploring psychological mysteries.

The film opens strong with Lisbeth Salander’s (Claire Foy) childhood with her sister and psychotic, abusive father. The gorgeous Nordic scenery shown throughout the movie is also pleasant to the eye. The action sequences have Alvarez’s trademark terrifying suspense, with well-choreographed hand-to-hand combat and fun chase scenes, such as when Salander rides her bike across a frozen lake in front of her incinerated hideout to avoid the police.

Some of the characters are unfortunately underutilized. Mikael Blomkvist (Sverrir Gudnason), Salander’s old journalist friend who wrote a piece on her and has an extramarital relationship with his editor, contributes so little to the plot. The villains could use more characteristics than just being greedy, and though I personally liked Camilla (Sylvia Hoeks), her character seems cheesy. The generic doomsday plot also does not accommodate the actors’ stunning performances, though it did not ruin my viewing experience as a whole.

In all honesty, I watched The Girl in the Spider’s Web without reading the books or even watching The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo beforehand. The only material I had as a reference was the trailer, which showed Salander as a bike-riding fugitive with a dragon tattoo who “hurts men who hurt women”. Thus, I came out of the theater quite pleased. It was after watching The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo that I understood fans’ frustration with this film.

Read also: From Elizabeth to Lisbeth: Claire Foy's transformation

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a 2011 Hollywood film adaptation of Larsson’s same-titled crime novel. It tells the story of Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig), a journalist devoted to exposing government misconduct who recruits troubled genius hacker Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) to help him in a disappearance and assumed murder investigation. The film touches on grim topics such as rape, abuse and Nazism.

The characters set the two movies apart. Rooney Mara’s Salander is a victim-turned-vigilante, scarred by a trauma and seeks revenge upon all abusers. Her queerness is expressed in the film explicitly through scenes and dialogue, and her brilliance through both hacking and mystery solving. Foy’s Salander on the other hand is simplified into a decent fighter who hacks devices, a 21st century righter of wrongs. Though Foy makes a good Salander, Mara embodies her rough and unpredictable aspects better.

Gudnason’s Blomkvist is a mere shadow of Craig’s. His problem goes from losing a career-threatening libel case to his inability to detach his work from Salander. His relationship with her is disappointingly minimal, and most of all, any interaction potential from the role reversal of Salander as Blomkvist’s assistant to him as her helper is wasted.

The Girl in the Spider’s Web is a decent action movie with a unique and marketable main character. It has its flaws, but none anyone hasn’t seen before. While Lisbeth Salander’s fans might be disappointed by her portrayal in this movie, Sony’s efforts to establish this movie as a reboot should have been taken as a warning sign for her changes. This Salander is easier to incorporate into any kind of plot, which means sequels of similar fashion might be coming. If Sony emphasizes her “hurts men who hurt women” attribute more, Lisbeth Salander might become one of Hollywood’s most iconic characters. (iru/wng)

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