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Rebooting a wildly successful franchise is not a new idea.  In fact, *Girl with the Dragon Tattoo* was not only rebooted, but it was recast from Swedish to English in its first reincarnation.  The franchise played out and people generally moved on.  For some reason, someone thought it might be a good idea to give this character another resurrection.  That may have been a better idea with a new market in mind.  Say, twenty or thirty years from now.  Instead, this was too little, too soon.  Or maybe it was too much, too soon.  Lisbeth Salander (Claire Foy) has gone from badass to unrealistic action hero.  In *Happy Days* terminology, they officially *jumped the shark.*

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Lisbeth Salander has a dark past.  Family issues come back to haunt her as she accepts a job from a fired NSA employee.  The employee, Frans Balder (Stephen Merchant), developed a system for the NSA that has the ability to hack worldwide missile silos.  When he is fired from the NSA, he hires Salander to steal his program back.  Of course, the program is protected by an impossible password, but nothing a ten-year-old can't figure out.  At least, not the right ten-year old.  When NSA agent Edwin Needham (Lakeith Stanfield) heads to Sweden to recover the hacked program, he begins to uncover layers of resistance.  The Swedish government may have a hand in the theft, as well as Salander's long lost sister, Camilla (Sylvia Hoeks).  The future of the worlds rests on Lisbeth's grit and hacking skills.

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This story is over-the-top.  So I probably shouldn't drill down too far.  But two things struck me during the set-up for the story.  First, I hope that the NSA has any vital program like *FireFall* hosted on a dedicated air-gapped computer.  Second, I certainly hope they have a back-up copy somewhere.  Third, I hope that one programmer doesn't have complete control over the system, to include the password.  Once we can accept the premise and move beyond the obvious, we can examine the rest of the story.  We have to accept that the Swedes would steal a powerful, extremely sensitive computer system from the United States because they are more trustworthy.  We have to accept that the Swedish government just happens to be using a notorious crime gang to carry out their theft, which happens to coincide with an NSA programmer being fired and ending up in Sweden.  A programmer who just happens to call the person trying to steal the technology when things start to go sideways for him.  The story, in a nutshell, is a contrived, convoluted mess.  If you are looking for a film with a strong female lead, great action sequences and a story that is laughable, this is for you.  If you want some semblance of credibility, this film will drive you bonkers.

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Claire Foy was an interesting choice for Lisbeth Salander.  Personally, I like the original better.  Not Rooney Mara, but the Swedish original, Noomi Rapace.  She was in the first film I saw with this character and she did the character best.  Having said that, Claire Foy was not a bad choice.  She has the right combination of grit and strength to sell the character.  While her character lacks even an ounce of credibility in this film, she does a great job of delivering the action in spite of the writing.  I enjoyed Stanfield as the NSA agent, although his actions defied common sense.  He brought a likable quality to the character.  I didn't care too much for Hoeks as Camilla.  I liked her better in the *Bladerunner* sequel.  Overall, the casting helped this film more than it hurt it.  Although that isn't saying much.

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*The Girl in the Spider's Web* received an R rating from the MPAA.  The film is violent and has a decent amount of sexual content.  There are several adult sexual themes that are alluded too, although not directly depicted.  The film also has some nudity, although brief.  Language, drug use and alcohol are also depicted, although don't seem to drive the rating.  The overt sexual themes in the film and violence seem to be the primary factors driving the rating.  It is applied judiciously in this case.  This film is not for younger audiences.  I would suggest teens or older.  This film has a run time of one hour, 57 minutes.  Great pacing was one other factor that helped this film, which did not feel so close to two hours in length.

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I could have done without watching *The Girl in the Spider's Web*.  I think I watched it mostly because I was a fan of the original.  I didn't like the sequels as much as the original, and liked this one even less.  It was a transparent attempt to capitalize on a lucrative franchise.  Big action and decent casting helped elevate a story that was laughable at times.  I guess the writers figured they were *all in*, reality be damned.  It shows.  I can't really stomach giving this film a recommendation.  I enjoyed some of the action, the pacing was good (although I managed to be bored once or twice) but  the story was ridiculous.  Objectively, I would give this film a 6/10 rating for pacing and cinematography.  But without a recommendation.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKMSP9OKspQ

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