The first Girl In The Spider’s Web trailer was all about introducing audiences to Claire Foy’s take on the beloved Lisbeth Salander character. This change-up in actresses was appropriate, given that the franchise is moving on from Steig Larsson’s original trilogy — skipping the second and third books, rather than continuing the installment directed by David Fincher and starring Rooney Mara — and barreling into the David Lagercranz’s continuation of Salander’s hacker-vigilante adventures after Larsson’s death. The second trailer fills out more of the plot (other than Salander continuing to take out men who do terrible things to women), and this time, the deadly challenges are personal.
Director Fede Alvarez (Don’t Breathe) sets up the somewhat-surprise rivalry between Lisbeth and her long-lost twin sibling, Camilla, who appears to have resurrected herself within Lisbeth’s nightmares as a suffocating lady in latex. That alone is enough to give anyone the shudders, but the trailer dives right into mayhem, so as not to allow the haunting atmosphere to take over. Now, Camilla has assumed a lead position in their father’s criminal network, and she’s set her sights upon Lisbeth for many reasons, but (and this is obviously the overriding one) mostly because she’s psychotic. Family, man.
Alvarez’s helming of this installment sparks intrigue, given that he’s adept at fine-tuning atmospheric tension, but trailer highlights action over anything else. Salander operates at a million miles per hour, even riding her motorcycle over an icy lake. This shift of gears may cause those who loved Fincher’s take (as well as the original Swedish film adaptations starring Noomi Rapace) to turn away, and it remains to be seen whether Alvarez and Foy can spin this saga’s new web into box office success.
The Girl In The Spider’s Web arrives in theaters on November 9.
