An odd Lisbeth with knockoff ‘Tattoo’
Claire Foy is at the stage of her career where she is saying yes to anything, and so far that has made sense. But with “The Girl in the Spider’s Web: A New Dragon Tattoo Story,” she finds herself in a role she shouldn’t have taken, in a movie that shouldn’t have been made.
By the way, just in case this is news to anyone, Stieg Larsson died in 2004. The novelist who created Lisbeth Salander — the tattooed computer hacker and rough-hewn avenging angel — was not on hand to write the screenplay or supply the story. Just tossing that out there, because it matters.
But first, about Foy. She’s smart. She’s instantly likable. She has circles of concern under her eyes. We look at her and know what she’s thinking. Her face is open to us. These are great assets for any actor, and they’ve served her well in a range of roles, from Queen Elizabeth II (“The Crown”) to Janet Armstrong (“First Man”). But Foy is anything but mysterious or feral. Rooney Mara and Noomi Rapace, who previously played this role, seemed appropriately weird, but weird depends on hiding something, and Foy hides nothing.
Yet even if Foy were an ideal Lisbeth, “The Girl in the Spider’s Web” would still be a total bust, with a story that’s confusing until you figure it out, and then it makes no sense. Based on the novel by David Lagercrantz, which was based on Larsson’s characters, the film was directed and co-written by horror filmmaker Fede Alvarez (“Evil Dead”). Alvarez’s direction here feels insecure, as if he were trying to imitate and deliver a certain kind of product, rather than respond, in an organic way, to the material.
The movie is layered in a soundtrack heavy on cellos and electronic distortion. The music keeps telling us that what we’re seeing is important, until we don’t believe it anymore. The result of this and other choices is that “The Girl” takes on a quality of distance, which, intentional or not, is the wrong note. We’re presented with a world under glass, a world we can’t penetrate or inhabit, and we’re asked to follow the adventures of characters doing things we don’t understand, who are engaged in a struggle we don’t care about. Aside from that, it’s great. However, the movie does seem to have promise in its first minutes. A man is shown apologizing for what sounds like a minor transgression. Then the camera pulls back, and we see his wife on the floor, beaten and whimpering. This a bad guy, and we can’t wait for him to get his. And what do you know? Faster than you can say “instant gratification,” Lisbeth Salander shows up, and within seconds, the man is hanging upside down in his own living room and on the verge of financial ruin.
If only the movie could continue in the same straightforward way, but no, the plot must kick in. Lisbeth is contacted by a scientist in need of protection. For those familiar with British comedy, it might come as a surprise to find the scientist played by Stephen Merchant (“Extras”). Merchant is one of the funniest guys in the world, so seeing him in a drama takes some getting used to. Apparently, this scientist has invented a program that enables him to control every nuclear weapon on the planet. That’s OK. He has no interest in blowing up the world. But the people chasing him? Oh, you know those guys. They want to blow up everything.
So it’s a race to get the program, but it’s an ugly race, with participants whose motives are unclear, and with Lisbeth (and therefore us) mostly in the dark as to what’s going on. “The Girl” even makes Stockholm look bleak, which takes some doing.
However, the movie does provide one small pleasure in the form of the villain, Camilla, who runs a vast criminal organization. Sylvia Hoeks plays her as spooky and damaged, like her head has been rewired so that everything evil is good, and nothing is too horrible to do or witness. She’d probably even like this movie.