The Girl in the Spider's Web
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: November 9, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
43
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 42 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
22
Negative:
10
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
ObserverOliver JonesNov 8, 2018
Not simply a worthy addition to David Fincher’s vastly under-appreciated "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" franchise (they’re calling it a “soft reboot,” but there’s nothing soft about it), The Girl in the Spider’s Web is also a top-shelf Batman movie. For good measure, it kicks the butt of the last few Bourne installments too. Read full review
80
Film Journal InternationalStephen Whitty Oct 31, 2018
Foy and Alvarez have still spun the old and new elements together in an effective web. If this is a trap, it’s one you won’t hurry to escape from—or even fear being caught in again. Read full review
79
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiOct 24, 2018
The Girl in the Spider’s Web is such an absorbing airplane novel of a movie that you half expect to walk out of the theater and into O’Hare International. Your flight was on time, and the turbulence was totally badass. Read full review
70
Rolling StonePeter TraversNov 7, 2018
The Girl in the Spider’s Web, directed with gun-to-the-head urgency by Fede Alvarez (Don’t Breathe), settles for being a tension-packed, go-go-go thriller that will pump adrenaline into your nervous system for nearly all of its suspenseful if implausible 117 minutes. Read full review
70
IGNJim VejvodaOct 24, 2018
The Girl in the Spider’s Web has essentially refashioned Lisbeth Salander into a superhero. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleJosh KupeckiNov 7, 2018
The plots of these films and stories, and so much of Scandinavian crime fiction in general, often rely too heavily on coincidence and chance, be they serial killers or multinational cutthroats. And while this chapter of Lisbeth’s life is similarly convoluted, they are dark and gritty and compelling. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeNov 6, 2018
While Alvarez acquits himself with thrilling action sequences and breakneck pacing, the overall impression left by this “New Dragon Tattoo Story” is one of a razor-sharp blade dulled by the demands of franchise filmmaking. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanNov 9, 2018
“Spider’s Web” may have its flaws, including a bit of villainous motivation so oversimplified it makes Dr. Evil’s thought processes look like Einstein’s. And yet despite Lisbeth’s makeover, there’s still something cool, complicated and compelling about this “Girl.” Lisbeth may be stuck in a silly movie, but she’s nobody’s victim. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliNov 8, 2018
Distilled to its essence, The Girl in the Spider’s Web is a generic espionage/crime thriller. Although briskly paced, the plot is far from airtight and demands a deus ex machina to reach its climax. Read full review
63
USA TodayBrian TruittNov 6, 2018
At least we have a winning Lisbeth. Now let’s put her in a situation that’s all her own and not just a placemark for a caped crusader or a dapper secret agent. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeyNov 21, 2018
There’s a doomy superficial finesse to the picture, with all its wintry confrontations, skull-trained sniper fire and quick thinking, and it doesn’t take itself as seriously as Fincher’s did. But then, it couldn’t: there’s nothing going on beneath. Read full review
60
Total FilmPhilip KempNov 5, 2018
This latest Millennium movie smooths out the series’ earlier quirks. But there’s action galore and Foy makes a poised, dangerous heroine. Read full review
60
EmpireAlex GodfreyNov 5, 2018
An often effective reboot, this does everything you’d expect, but that’s a real shame. Read full review
60
The GuardianBenjamin LeeOct 24, 2018
It’s watchable enough but let down by a strange lack of interest in presenting Salander as anything but an engine to propel a plot. More female action heroes is by no means a bad thing but forcing Salander into Bond’s shoes feels like a misstep, her intellect and survivalism suited to far more interesting pursuits. Read full review
58
IndieWireKate ErblandOct 24, 2018
Lisbeth is never going to be cuddly or sunny, but that doesn’t mean she has to be robotic or impossible to read. That’s something that Foy and Alvarez clearly understand, and the result is a heroine not only worth cheering for, but one worth loving and even understanding. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperNov 12, 2018
At times The Girl in the Spider’s Web almost feels like a superhero movie, with Lisbeth as Bat Girl. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 10, 2018
Here character is sacrificed pure action and story becomes whatever they can make of a fifth rate Bond villain and ridiculous plot device. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyBilge EbiriNov 8, 2018
Everything has been watered down: the intensity of the hero, the sense of sexual danger, the violence. Read full review
50
The Associated PressJake CoyleNov 8, 2018
The greatest tension in Larsson’s “Millennium” series is how Salander so bristles with unease in the world, even while she expertly manipulates everything in it. No such conflict is found in The Girl in the Spider’s Web, a commonplace thriller for an uncommon heroine. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyNov 7, 2018
Now a miscast Claire Foy adopts the hacker vigilante’s black leather and badass avenging-angel attitude for The Girl in the Spider’s Web — a disappointingly safe, by-the-numbers action-thriller. Read full review
50
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenNov 6, 2018
The “Dragon Tattoo” series continues with “Spider’s Web,” but it seems as though the franchise is running out of gas and fresh ideas. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Emily YoshidaNov 6, 2018
I don’t hold Larsson’s novels in enough esteem to mind a theoretical sanding down of them into B-movie popcorn fare, but this isn’t the way to do it. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsNov 6, 2018
Uruguayan-born Fede Alvarez (“Don’t Breathe,” the recent “Evil Dead” reboot) handles the action breathlessly and well enough. The movie’s acted with serious conviction. But I kind of hate it. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungOct 24, 2018
The filmmakers take a heroic, action-packed, high-tech approach that empties out some of the originality of this unique female heroine. Read full review
50
VarietyJay WeissbergOct 24, 2018
It was probably inevitable that Hollywood would neuter the best elements of Stieg Larsson’s “Millennium” franchise, but did the producers really need to shift it into a commonplace cross between a superhero flick and James Bond? Read full review
42
ConsequenceAllison ShoemakerNov 8, 2018
Because it’s Claire Foy’s turn, The Girl in the Spider’s Web cannot honestly be called a colossal waste of time. It’s merely a moderate waste. Read full review
40
Vanity FairRichard LawsonDec 16, 2018
Lisbeth loses a bit of her individuality in her conversion to action star, becoming a more generic butt-kicker with plainer motivations. Read full review
40
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeNov 29, 2018
This glum crime franchise, unfolding against a backdrop of blighted concrete chill and semi-derelict industrial spaces, is evolving into Scandinavia’s anti-hygge. Read full review
40
CineVueMichael MazzantiNov 28, 2018
The Girl in the Spider’s Web demonstrates how uncertainty is a detriment, just as it proves Alvarez will always be a stylist worth watching. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicRandy CordovaNov 5, 2018
Unfortunately, nothing in the film –Foy's performance included – cuts the chill, and you're left trapped in a big, wintry void. Read full review
40
Time OutJoshua RothkopfNov 2, 2018
Once intriguingly strange, Lisbeth Salander returns as a boring action hero, her rough edges sanded down. Read full review
40
Screen DailyTim GriersonNov 2, 2018
Lacking the freshness of the original trilogy or the meticulous, insidious tone of Fincher’s film, Spider’s Web mostly feels like a holding action to ensure that more sequels can be made in the future. That timidity flies in the face of this series’ inherent edginess. Read full review
38
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiNov 8, 2018
A slow trudge devoid of suspense and adrenaline. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzNov 8, 2018
It isn’t hard to find all the many ways in which this film exhausts both itself and Lisbeth. It is time, already, to give this Girl a rest. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiNov 7, 2018
The worst thing about The Girl in the Spider’s Web — the element likely to enrage most fans of the franchise — is how it betrays its central character by eradicating almost every aspect that made her so initially fascinating. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeTy BurrNov 7, 2018
And that’s what The Girl in the Spider’s Web is: soulless, bloodless product. Subtitled “A Dragon Tattoo Story,” it exists almost solely to drive a stake in the ground for the further franchising of author Stieg Larsson’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” Read full review
30
The AtlanticDavid SimsNov 9, 2018
Rest assured, in The Girl in the Spider’s Web, Lisbeth Salander saves the day, and she looks cool doing it. But this is a story so slick that she’d be rolling her eyes if she watched it. Read full review
30
The New York TimesManohla DargisNov 7, 2018
Alvarez tries to pep things up with chases, near escapes, dramatic rescues, fetish wear and female nudity. But the whole thing is a bummer, at times risible. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleNov 6, 2018
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. Read full review
20
SlateSam AdamsNov 13, 2018
For Alvarez, Lisbeth Salander is an icon first and last, which is to say she never feels like an actual person. Here, she’s just a Goth version of James Bond, and if this is Alvarez’s audition for the next Bond movie, then give him the job — he’s exactly the kind of director with style to burn and not too many ideas who you wouldn’t mind seeing donate two years of his career to an aging franchise. Read full review
12
Slant MagazineGreg CwikNov 6, 2018
Fede Álvarez’s film suffers from a compulsion to be capital-C cool, and all of its ostensibly stylish shots are untethered to any semblance of a sustained reality. Read full review
0
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternNov 8, 2018
The stars were misaligned from the start for this frantic, turgid thriller. That’s no knock on Ms. Foy, who might have surprised us if she’d had a different director working from a different script under a different set of studio imperatives that didn’t involve extracting blood from a very cold stone. Read full review
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