SHE has played with fire and kicked the hornets’ nest.

Now Lisbeth Salander has been caught in the spider’s web in the metaphor-friendly Millennium series, which has continued despite the death of creator Stieg Larsson.

Fellow Swedish author David Lagercrantz is following on with the story of the hacker and investigator with a traumatic past.

And his novel, The Girl in the Spider’s Web, has quickly been adapted to film by Don’t Breathe and Evil Dead’s Fede Alvarez.

The Uruguayan director gets the tone just right, particularly in the opening scenes, and First Man’s Claire Foy makes a strong debut as the troubled avenging angel Lisbeth, following on from Noomi Rapace and Rooney Mara.

But, overall, the story polishes over that gritty aesthetic with the full Hollywood treatment.

Speeding around on her motorbike and surviving gun fights and explosions, Foy’s Lisbeth comes across more like James Bond than a hacker who is haunted by her past and barely concealing deep personal issues.

And so it is difficult to take the film seriously which is a shame considering previous instalments have given us gripping conspiracies set in a gritty criminal world.

The disappointing by-the-book plot sees Lisbeth on a race to prevent a computer programme capable of global destruction falling into the wrong hands.

If you like action films, there are plenty of well choreographed scenes but the plot hurtles along at such a speed that there is little time to flesh out any of the characters.

Mikael Blomkvist (Sverrir Gudnason) – previously integral to the stories – has been reduced to a bit part. He comes across as a sullen journalist simply along for the ride.

And while LaKeith Stanfield does his best with his role as NSA’s Ed Needham it just comes across as ridiculous that he seems to be the only US agent concerned that nuclear codes might fall into criminal hands.

A daft ending, relating to Lisbeth’s past, is the final straw. So here is a time saving hack – just don’t bother with this one.

RATING: 4.5/10

DAVID MORGAN