A miscast and misconstrued reimagining of the Millennium series, The Girl in the Spider’s Web has transformed Stieg Larsson’s creation into an abomination, reshaping Lisbeth Salander as an action heroine complete with James Bond knock-off plot bereft of stakes or intrigue.

After the Millennium series trilogy (comprised of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest) books and subsequent film adaptations took the world by storm, it was inevitable that Hollywood would come calling. The 2011 remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was a success in every way except for the one which matters to movie studios: it did not make enough money.

Hence why we have The Girl in the Spiders Web. Its origins are controversial. After author of the Millennium trilogy Stieg Larsson passed away, a fourth novel was commissioned from his estate (controlled by Larson’s father and brother) and David Lagercrantz was chosen to write the book, which was received poorly. Much like its source material, The Girl in the Spiders Web is an abomination of a movie. Whatever soul, personality, or indeed emotion found in Larsson’s works has been sucked dry, leaving an empty shell of a product relaunch that is too preoccupied in replicating the Bond and Bourne series of films. What was once edgy and engrossing has now become formulaic and mediocre.

In one of the most egregious cases of miscasting seen in a big budget movie, Claire Foy portrays the role of hacker vigilante Lisbeth Salander with a doe-eyed intensity that is as sad to watch as it is befuddling. A knock-off James Bond plot has Salander on the run after her long-estranged sister and criminal mastermind Camila (Sylvia Hoeks) frames Lisbeth for murder, as they try to outwit one another in the hunt for some kind of high-tech gizmo that can give its owner access to every nuclear bomb on the planet.

Directed by Fede Alvarez (Don’t Breathe) and scripted by Alvarez along with Jay Basu and Steven Knight, The Girl in the Spider’s Web has little in the way of redeeming features. Even its opening credit sequence that so desperately tires to blend the thrilling artistry of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo feels uninspired and void of personality. In short, this is a soulless, boring, and abhorrent franchise reboot.