Computer hacker Lisbeth Salander finds herself dealing with an NSA agent, Russian thugs and her sister, Camilla. Lisbeth was hired by a former Nation Security Agency, Frans Balder, to steal a computer program that can access codes for nuclear weapons worldwide. The program is downloaded into Lisbeth’s laptop and the Russians steal it from her.
Blaine: Stieg Larsson, the creator of the “Dragon Tattoo" book series, had started writing a fourth book that would continue Lisbeth’s story, but he died before it was ever completed. Nine years later after Stieg Larsson’s death, the Swedish publisher of the “Dragon Tattoo” books decided to have a new book written. “The Girl in the Spider’s Web” was written by a different author, David Lagercrantz. Columbia Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Pictures developed an American version of the first “Dragon Tattoo”, directed by David Fincher. After it’s release, the executives at Columbia were asking themselves if they should adapt the other two books, “The Girl Who Played with Fire” and “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest”. The fact is there is already a movie trilogy based on “The Dragon Tattoo” books in Swedish language. All three films were released in Sweden in 2009. The question is why would Columbia retell something that already exists? It took some time for Columbia to decide if they would make a sequel. Then the fourth book, “The Girl in the Spider’s Web”, was published and Columbia decided to do it instead. Rooney Mara, who played Lisbeth Salander, in the American version of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” was interested in returning because she loved the character so much. Columbia had their eyes on Claire Foy after seeing her play Queen Elizabeth II on the Netflix series “The Crown” and they decided to recast the part, which disappointed Rooney Mara.
Claire Foy has been a fan of the books since 2006 and they were the type of books that she couldn’t get enough of. Claire kept re-reading them again, again and again and what she loved most about the character, Lisbeth Salander, is that she is this superhuman, who has speed, intelligence and a strong will to survive. Claire has played characters that are royal, the housewife or girly type, but she has never played a bad ass before. Claire thought it would be impossible to get this type of part and taking on the role of Lisbeth Salander was something completely new for her. When Noomi Rapace and Rooney Mara took on the character, it required them to do a lot of physical training and for them to change their looks and Claire Foy was going to have to do the same. Claire Foy discussed who Lisbeth Salander was going to be in “The Girl in the Spider’s Web” with screenwriter and director Fede Alvarez. Lisbeth is going through some emotional terms in “The Girl in the Spider’s Web” because of what she is dealing with, but she tries not to feel anything at all. That was challenging for Claire Foy. Lisbeth has also become more mature. Claire would think about the character on her days off from working on “First Man” and once she was done with “First Man” she started developing her take on Lisbeth Salander. Claire re-read the books and she did it seven times to get to know Lisbeth. The dialect coach was a huge help for Claire in order to get the Swedish accent. She also listened to a lot of Swedish people talking. The only thing Claire Foy didn’t learn was how to drive a motorcycle. Noomi Rapace and Rooney Mara learned how to drive a motorcycle when they took on the character, but for Claire Foy it was the type of thing she felt was too scary and dangerous for her to do. But she did love pretending to ride a motorcycle. It was difficult for Claire to be shooting almost the entire movie out in the cold weather, especially when was doing a lot of running and her own stunts in the snow.
The last thing that happened to Lisbeth was she was framed for murder by her own father, Alexander Zalachenko. Then he was killed by a psychopath, which she was very happy about. Lisbeth had to go to court and with the help of her friend, Mikael, she was able to prove she was innocent. Lisbeth settled down after that and now fans get to see what else she is up to. Lisbeth continues to use her computer hacking skills to good use and she does it by helping women who have been abused by men. Lisbeth has been described as a superhero at the beginning of the film when she sneaks into a wealthy man’s house, hangs him upside down, tasers his nut sack, takes money from his account and threatens him if he does anything bad to another woman. Around the time they were shooting “The Girl in the Spider’s Web”, the Me Too movement was rising and so Lisbeth torturing sexual predators supports the #MeToo. I love how that scene was shot. Lisbeth is in front of an angel sculpture and you only see the backside of the sculpture when the guy enters the room and Lisabeth is hiding in front of it. Then when Lisbeth reveals herself, the camera focusses in on her with the sculpture’s wings looking like they are attached to her. The reason Lisbeth is going through some changes must be because the people she hated most in life, who were nothing but scumbags, were killed and with them gone she starts to feel at ease.
Lisbeth has been through a lot in her life. Lisbeth’s background is that her father was a terrible man and would assault his wife. One day, Alexander gave the wife a beating so bad that it caused some brain damage. Lisbeth was furious at Alexander and poured gasoline on him and then set him on fire. After that, Alexander sent Lisbeth to this mental institution for children where she was taken advantage of by the doctor, Peter Teleborian. Lisbeth’s childhood was rough and it made her the person she is today. Now a new piece of her past has been revealed in this new film. In Steig Larrson’s original books, the name Camilla was mentioned a few times, but there weren’t any details on who she is. Camilla is Lisabeth’s sister, who’s life hasn’t been that great as well. Lisbeth and Camilla used to be close when they were kids and Lisbeth tried to protect her older sister from their father. Alexander Zalachenko did things to Camilla that made her all twisted inside. Lisbeth blames herself for not being able to help her sister. She didn’t fight hard enough to protect her. Fede Alvarez and the other screenwriters, Jay Basu and Steven Knight wrote Camilla differently in the script compared to how she is in the book and Sylvia Hoeks (Blade Runner 2049) used her imagination to think about who this character should be. Sylvia has always looked up to Lisbeth Salander and she knows how her world works. Camilla was described as the tool to show Lisbeth’s past and pain and Sylvia understood that Camilla had to be this damaged person. Sylvia also thought of Camilla as the mirror to Lisbeth Salander and a woman with power. Both Lisbeth and Camilla have a symbol to represent them. Lisbeth has the dragon on her back and Camilla has spiders.
Once again Lisbeth is being framed for murder and there are only two people who can help her, Plague, Lisbeth’s hacker friend and Mikael Blimkvist, the journalist and editor of Millennium magazine. Mikael and Lisbeth have a history together. Lisbeth helped Mikael solve the mystery of what happened to Harriet Vanger. Lisbeth and Mikael became very close and sexual active while doing it. Of course it wasn’t anything serious, it was just work buddies having a quick F****k. Lisbeth wasn’t the type of person who was interested in being in a romantic relationship and Mikael was already having a sexual relationship with his co-worker at Millennium, Erika Berger, who is a married woman. But Lisbeth was starting to feel something for Mikael because he was treating her with a lot of respect and kindness. Lisbeth never got a chance to tell Mikael how she felt. When Lisbeth was going to express her feelings to Mikael, she saw him with Erika and that hurt her. Lisbeth disappeared and Mikael had not seen her for a year, of course he says she disappeared for three years in “Spider’s Web”. Lisbeth matters a lot to Mikael. Lisbeth saved Mikael from being hanged to death by a killer, she got him out of jail and gave him useful information to take down the man who put him there, Wennerstrom. Mikael did a lot of research on Lisbeth and her family and wrote a story about it in Millennium to help Lisbeth during her case. The previous “Dragon Tattoo” films had focussed on both Mikael and Lisbeth because they were the main characters, but “The Girl in the Spider’s Web” is more Lisbeth’s movie and Mikael is the supporting character. Mikael is trying to think of something new to write about and he feels he needs more action in order to do it. Mikael is also expressing how much Lisbeth means to him as if she completes him. The most exciting stuff that has happened in Mikael’s life, she was always involved. But Lisbeth knows Mikael and Erika are still a thing and that upsets her. But she still must feel something for Mikael and she won’t admit it not just to him but to herself.
Lisbeth is dealing with a lot of people in “Spider’s Web”. The person she steals from, Edwin Needham, is a security expert who works for the National Security Agency. Like Lisbeth, Edwin is a computer nerd. He knows when someone is hacking through his stuff. He tracks down Lisbeth and flies all the way to Sweden to find her and get his stuff back, so it doesn’t end up in the wrong hands. Edwin is good at tracking people down, but Lisbeth isn’t easy to catch up with. There is no person on Earth who is as good of a hacker as Lisbeth. She’s a master pro at what she does. But Edwin doesn’t give up until he finds Lisbeth and he is smart enough to figure out how Lisbeth thinks as he tracks her down. Edwin was another character that was written differently for the screenplay compared to how he is in the book and actor LaKeith Stanfield would play around with the character as he was prepping up for his role and director Fede Alvarez would have fun watching him perform.
Lisbeth is experiencing what it is like to look after a kid. The person Lisbeth is accused of murdering is Frans Balder, the man who hired her to steal the nuclear weapons program. Frans’ son, August, was with him when he was murdered and August knows a lot of things about his father’s work, which is why he is still alive. Lisbeth goes after August, manages to get him away from the Russians and looks after him. Lisbeth is no good with kids, but August is now her responsibility and she is doing her best to make August feel safe. Lisbeth and August manage to connect because they have some things in common.
The film doesn’t focus so much on the nuclear missiles and what Camilla plans to do with them because there is so much going on with Lisbeth. She is getting herself out of trouble, facing her sister, working with Mikael again, looking after a child and making sure another computer geek doesn’t catch up with her. Fede Alvarez is the type of director who doesn’t know what he wants to see when directing, but when he arrives on set he gets ideas from the things surrounding him. What Fede does know is the type of story he wants to tell when he is writing a screenplay. Fede Alvarez wanted to be faithful to the book, but at the same time take it to the next level. He also wanted to add emotion to the story. Fede Alvarez loved Lisbeth so much because she does a lot of amazing things and he wanted to show how cool Lisbeth can be. Lisbeth goes through a lot of extreme stuff in “The Girl in the Spider’s Web", probably more than everything else fans have seen her through. It’s so cool to watch. Lisbeth is like a secret agent in “The Girl in the Spider’s Web” because she is so clever at what she does like computer hacking, sneaking her way into buildings, covering her tracks when she is on the run and fighting four or five men with all her strength. Lisbeth could be the next James Bond. Another thing Fede is good with is how the camera is going to move. Camilla wears a lot of red and the red is the highlight of each shot Sylvia Hoeaks is in. There’s also a couple of shots of Lisbeth sitting next to a window and she’s a silhouette. Then there’s a shot of Lisbeth laying on the floor while she is handcuffed. August is right in front of Lisbeth, but he is just staring at the wall right in front of him. The light from the hole in the sealing hits Lisbeth and lightens her up while the rest of the room is nearly dark.
Towards the end, Camilla tries to make a run for it after being in a terrible car crash and Lisbeth goes face to face with her. During that scene, Lisbeth gets all emotional and breaks into tears because she still blames herself for not helping her sister. Lisbeth has been trying to avoid those kind of feelings, but the one thing I think she cares for most in the world is her sister. It’s a real surprise because this is a person who hardly feels anything after having a rough life. The opening scene of the film showed Lisbeth as a child escaping from her father and her only option was jumping 50 feet high down from the house into the snow. Lisbeth told Camilla to come with her, but Camilla chose to stay. Now Camilla is standing on the edge of a cliff and she is in the same position Lisbeth was in and Camilla decides to finally jump. Lisbeth defeats Camilla but at a heartbreaking cost, of course there’s no knowing if she is dead or not because all you see is her vanishing through fog as she falls. “The Girl in the Spider’s Web” ends with Lisbeth burning down the house she and Camilla used to live in because that is another piece of bad memory. I feel Lisbeth’s story will continue in another film because another book was published two years after “Spider’s Web” called “The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye”.
“The Girl in the Spider’s Web” is awesome and my rating on it is five out of five stars
