Verschwörung

Ich bin kein Fan von Finchers Werk (ich bin ein Fan von den Skandinaviern), aber wegen diesem Film erhöht sich die Qualität von seinem Werk hinsichtlich der Darstellung, des Stils und der Klugheit. Verschwörung ist ein sehr inhaltsreicher Film mit einem großen Potenzial des Stoffes. Noomi Rapace und Rooney Mara waren jedoch eine interessantere Lisbeth als Claire Foy und Sverrir Gudnason passt mehr zu Shades of Grey als zu der Rolle von Mikael Blomkvist. Dieser technisch sehr gut gelungene Thriller ist aber vor allem eher ein Actionfilm, der sich an Genre-Klischees und einfachen Schablonenfiguren orientiert. Er hat keine detailliert ausgearbeitete Psychologie und keine nordische Atmosphäre. (17.11.2018)

Ist Lisbeth Salander die interessanteste europäische Romanheldin des letzten Jahrzehnts? Vielleicht ja, vielleicht nein. Allerdings ist es eine ziemliche Tortur, all die Versuche zu beobachten, ihre Geschichten über so viele Jahre hinweg zu adaptieren. Noomi Rapace hatte die Trilogie und die Serie, Rooney Mara hatte leider nur das amerikanische Remake des ersten Teils und jetzt kommt Claire Foy mit dem vierten (!) Teil. Die Tatsache, dass es in Hollywood keine Nummer zwei und drei gibt, ist ziemlich lustig. Mich persönlich amüsiert noch mehr die Tatsache, dass Claire Foy zu Noomi Rapaces Zeiten nur als Dickens' Amy Dorrit bekannt war, was nicht gerade für eine beständige Karriere spricht. Was kommt als Nächstes? Wird es ein nächstes Mal geben? Und wird eine andere Schauspielerin, die gerade etwas Klassisches bei der BBC produziert, in der fünften Staffel wieder mitspielen? Es wäre zauberhaft, denn ich glaube schon lange nicht mehr an die Pluspunkte, die Millennium bieten könnte. Und doch ist das Potenzial dieses Stoffes so groß. (31.03.2019)

Lisbeth Salander returns and is tasked with stealing an NSA program that its creator wants back. Unfortunately, members of a dangerous gang, who know Lisbeth better than she ever imagined, are also interested. The Girl in the Spider's Web is a lot less ambitious than the American version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and settles for being an entertaining, modern spy thriller with a surprising amount of good action. It's a bit sillier than David Fincher's version, but not boring in the slightest, just different. The two hours in the cinema passed quite pleasantly for me though. (07.11.2018)

Fede Alvarez, the director of the Evil Dead remake and the thriller Don't Breathe, has a go at the action genre with a well-known book and, though I would have been happier if he had stuck to horror, he doesn't put spy action thrillers to shame. I liked Claire Foy as Lisbeth Salander and she is unexpectedly deft in the action. Story-wise the film doesn't surprise that much, though there are a few plot twists, but none outright breathtaking, and the action itself is very accomplished, especially the original sniper finale enriched with elements I don't think I've seen before. The contact fights are also good. It's not as good as the Swedish trilogy or David Fincher's version, but the film didn't offend in the cinema and those who are in the mood for a spy action flick shouldn't be downright disappointed. Visually and directorially it was done to perfection. 70% (07.12.2018)

If I didn't have a weakness for Lisbeth Salander and Claire Foy (and the criminally underused Vicky Krieps), I would rate this film more harshly. I don’t mind that the filmmakers have definitively turned Lisbeth it into a comic book superheroine who treats wounds with superglue, snorts a crushed amphetamine tablet to get up, can move from place to place at lightning speed and needs less time to hack the NSA than to make coffee for an ordinary mortal (Larsson’s trilogy was already headed in this direction). The problem is how they slapdashedly modified the plot to be substantially more layered with multiple perspectives taking into account (and alternating with) the work upon which it is based and the manner of storytelling. Events are connected to each other in a terribly careless and repetitive way, based on the same pattern (someone tries to kidnap/kill someone, that person is captured/escapes and around we go again). Despite signs of psychologisation (Lisbeth’s trauma due to her sister’s betrayal), the characters behave as if they are in a run-of-the-mill action film and their foolish decisions are too frequently not fatal for them due only to fortunate coincidences and magically flawless timing. The visual style, derived from Scandinavian noir and punk as well as S&M aesthetics and merely copying Fincher and Alvarez much more than the slow revealing shots evoking unease and unpleasant feelings (such as the first one after the Bond-esque opening credits), uses fast, chaotic cutting that buries the entire atmosphere. The director is apparently most “at home” during scenes with elements of horror, which make up the only aspect that is not as painfully generic and interchangeable as the rest. I would be glad to see Claire Foy again in the role of Lisbeth Salander, but not in a film that most reminds me of the feminist answer to Crank. 55% (05.11.2018)