Bond-lite

rather different kind of audience from the first trio of Swedish movies and David Fincher’s 2011 remake The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

It is based on the book by David Lagercrantz that continues the series after Larsson’s death.

There is a new back story for Lisbeth that soft-pedals the original one of multiple rapes and abuse.

Other disconcerting changes should test the loyalty of the series’ fans, while perhaps picking up younger audiences. She now sports much more advanced IT skills.

She also has the new superpower of accessing any computer in the world in two clicks, not to mention driving motorbikes and Ferraris over ice and snow at Le Mans speed and surviving certain-death situations.

If you flash on an angry, pierced, femme version of James Bond, you are into the spirit of the piece directed by Fede Alvarez and starring Claire

Foy (First Man, The Crown) in the lead role.

Perfunctory in its psychological realism and flagrantly lacking any other kind, the screenplay by Alvarez, Jay Basu and Steven Knight is certainly not the most satisfying version of Lisbeth. But it is edgy and action-packed, and Alvarez’s direction keeps the tension high through a string of ever-more-improbable threats to Lisbeth and her allies.

In the end, her character is so invincible she feels unreal as a human personality.