The Girl in the Spider’s Web is a soft-reboot / sequel of the well received The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Filmed by a new cast and crew with Fede Álvarez – of Don’t Breathe fame as director, the plot is about vigilante hacker Lisbeth Salander who is contacted by Frans Balder, a terminated employee of the National Security Agency (NSA). Balder has created FireWall, an encrypted programme capable of accessing the world’s nuclear codes.
Fearing that his powerful cyber weapon may fall into the wrong hands, Balder recruits Lisbeth requesting her to steal FireWall and destroy it. But things do not go according to plan, as characters from Lisbeth’s past start hunting her down.
The movie is a typical popcorn entertainer that offers scenes we are so used to. You get a sense of deja vu as plot elements from the James Bond, Jason Bourne, Mission Impossible series and even The Dark Knight make appearance here.
Even though the technology depicted in the movie appears too far fetched, you won’t be bothered as it doubles up the plot pace. The car chase scenes and a stunt where Lisbeth rides her bike over a frozen lake is well shot. There is an intense long shot when Lisbeth tries to hack into the NSA file and Edwin Needham (LaKeith Stanfield) disconnects the servers to foil her plans.
Claire Foy has shed her royal aura from The Crown and embraces a total bad ass persona to portray as the grim female lead, Lisbeth Salander. There is no denying with the fact that Claire Foy has performed well but it isn’t as deep and powerful as Rooney Mara, the lead star of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Stephen Merchant as the guilty NSA employee delivers a commendable performance while LaKeith Stanfield as the NSA expert who tracks Lisbeth tells us that he is not just a geek but is capable of pulling the trigger.
The Girl in the Spider’s Web is feeble when compared to its prequel but with the many similar plot elements, screen writers, Jay Basu, Fede Álvarez and Steven Knight make it watchable.