Millénium : Ce qui ne me tue pas

I'm gonna sound biased, but the truth is that I am. David Fincher come back! I miss his take of "Millennium", which was brilliantly engaging. But we gotta accept the fact that the whole trilogy couldn't be adapted because of the first film not being financially successful enough. The fourth book was also the first in the series to not be written by Stieg Larsson, but instead by David Lagercrantz. Must have been a daunting task following in the footsteps of the world-wide bestsellers. I remember that my dad recognised him in a store once. So he went up to Lagercrantz, said hello and then left him in peace. My dad said he didn't wanna say anything else because he was being criticised and under pressure for taking over the series. That's when I first heard about it - and yes, I was sceptic as well. The trailers had me worried. The direction was gonna be faster, more action oriented and appeal to an even wider audience. I get that, sure. But the brilliance of "Dragon Tattoo" is its investigate dark mystery. Look how the story is told and how the audience is always interested in finding the answers to the questions. Was "Spider's Web" any good? Well... Better than I expected.

Fede Alvarez is not a bad director choice. I underestimated him. He knows how to get the stylish imagery. There's a good eye here since many creative ideas are being used for the shots. It gets points for that. He uses some shaky cam in the intense scenes. Thankfully there's a good balance of steady and hand-held camera use. I've seen Claire Foy getting much work recently. My bets where that she would portray Lisbeth Salander being hysterical or explosive. I was wrong because she lands a solid performance. Subtle when she needs to be, and even showing the emotion that's underneath Lisbeth's tough exterior. Surprisingly she's even funny. Sverrir Gudnason shows a warm interpretation of Mikael Blomkvist. He comes across as a friendly person who's presence lightens the mood. Not a bad take either. I would in all honesty have been ecstatic if Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig had returned. Then again Fede Alvarez felt he wouldn't had done 50% of his job if he took Fincher's cast. I don't really agree, but I understand what he means. The first act of the film was pretty alright. The look, the pacing and the introduction of the story worked. You can tell by the beginning that the style direction will be something else: An action-thriller. Salander has become a vigilante. That's something I feel kind of "Eh.." about. Clearly not the original intention. If you look at it as a James Bond type film, you'll enjoy it quite a lot. Don't go in expecting a moody crime mystery. That's not what you'll get. The story is not as isolated but more expanded involving Nato or Swedish Special Forces and people running after computer programs. Seemed more far-fetched than what it needed to be.

The experience of watching "Spider's Web" was enjoyable. You can have fun with the action and your suspenseful scenes. As a typical action movie, it does the job. The villain in the piece stood out to me. Sylvia Hoeks (who we saw in "Blade Runner 2049") delivers an eerie enemy for Salander. I get the feeling she's not gonna get enough credit for this role since her entire character doesn't fit the "supposed" realistic tone. It's a person straight out of a James Bond movie. And there I go again with that comparison, but it's actually got more in common with that now that I think of it. The villain is acted well - The issue is just that she belongs in another film entirely. I went in afraid of what the film would turn out to be, and it wasn't bad. Although it doesn't capture the greatness of "Dragon Tattoo". Stick to the originals for real grittiness. But if you want a fast thrill-ride, then this is decent. Biggest take away: Nice to see Stockholm depicted this nicely in american production again.

When this reboot/sequel was announced with a new cast, my expectations were really low, however I decided to give a chance, since the director is the same of 2 horror movies that I really loved (Evil Dead and Don't Breathe).

The Girl in the Spider's Web is the opposite of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (I'm referring to the Swedish movie and to the American remake), in the originals we've seen an interesting story full of mystery, well developed characters, two great protagonists and some good twists, unlike this reboot/sequel/whatever.

I tried to like The Girl in the Spider's Web, because I respect Fede Alvarez, but I need to be honest with my opinion about him, he's amazing to work as director in horror movies but not in another different genres. This movie is just awful! The plot is cliche, uninteresting, with some predictable scenes and the worst action sequences I've seen in a movie with a "big" budget (seriously, even my grandmother without any knowledge about cinema could film better those fight scenes of Lisbeth fighting the bad guys in some bathrooms). The cast is so weak, Claire Foy is a good actress and she tries to do her best with her poorly developed character, but stills the weakest Lisbeth Salander. They're not bad actors, but all of them seem to be in this movie by obligation.

I can't say I'm disappointed because my expectations were already low, I'm just a little sad because it could be an awesome film if Sony had chosen a more appropriate director and better screenwriters.

Rating 3.5/10

Boy, a lot of people disliked this movie. It suffers from the strength of its predecessors. It also suffers from too much for one film. We don't get enough psychological foundation, for one thing The bad guys have way too much power and this thing they can launch is pretty hard to swallow. Imagine that she and her sister have the future of the world in their hands. Thirdly, it is based on a book, written after the original series (an average book but entertaining). the problem is it ignores major plot elements. I doubt we'll see any more of these films.

I feel the low rating currently (5.7) is probably because people are disappointed because it can't live up to its predecessor. And it's true, it can't... but in its own right it's still a good movie. Not excellent, but good. The story is okay, the action is solid, and Lisbeth is still badass. If you have the previous movie sitting in a shrine in your house somewhere and you worship it before you go to bed... skip this movie. If you just want an enjoyable if not terribly memorable action thriller, then go ahead and have fun.

I was a bit surprised when the name of the English translator rolled in the credits, as it really seems no one involved in this movie read any of the books. They really only needed and used the name recognition of the characters.

The Acting is quite good. If fact almost everything in this movie is above par compared with most Hollywood shoot-em-ups. But the story, if you can really call it a story, is just so banal. We are told the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad and then we have the plot twist. Yawn.