The Girl Who Played with Fire (2010)

How sad is this?

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' is truly excellent, one would be hard pressed to find a Swedish thriller better. It wasn't flawless, but it comes close.It was followed by two follow ups and the David Fincher film, all worth a look but the original 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' is the real deal. 'The Girl who Played with Fire' for a sequel/follow-up is worthy, although there is no doubt which is the superior film. There is too much of a different feel somewhat, the original mesmerised in its tension and intensity and constantly chilled the bone and shocked. While there is tension and suspense, the bleak moodiness and bone-chilling shock value is not quite replicated here by director Daniel Alfredson, who directs efficiently enough but there was the need of more atmosphere.'The Girl who Played with Fire' also feels rushed and incomplete, a longer length would have helped it and it was very clear that the film had been heavily cut. With a longer length, things would have felt more developed (something that the original did so brilliantly with a lot going on), the sex trafficking theme would have been less tame as it is a horrific situation and that didn't come through enough here and the ending (which was a shock in the book) less of a that's it feeling.Although somewhat televisual-like, which is not a bad thing as such but it definitely would have benefited, or at least the atmosphere would have done, from a more cinematic and moody look, 'The Girl who Played with Fire' is a good-looking film, with a good amount of grit and style. The music is suitably haunting and the writing is efficient and taut enough if not as structurally tight as before. The story is definitely intriguing, and there is a lot of action dynamically choreographed and hardly bland, with some very nice twists and turns, also loved the expansion on Lisbeth's character, a fascinating character made even more interesting.Performances are still fine. Michael Nyqvist is quietly commanding and the villains, if not as much as 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo', pose a good threat...but this is mesmerising Noomi Rapace's film.All in all, a bit of a disappointment after being so taken with 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' but still worthy and not bad by any stretch of the imagination. 7/10 Bethany Cox

I watched the Swedish-German original version. But I liked the first part The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo / Verblendung with Daniel Craig much more than this sequel. Why? Cause the cinematography was better than in Verdammnis. I found the picture was too frozen here with lot of dark colors. Therefore I have got some very nice images from Sweden. Then sorry, I saw this solid thriller with German audio that destroyed the atmospheric dialogs from the great actors that spoke in their Swedish language. The action scenes were well executed and it was never boring. Now I am curious to see the last part Vergebung that will be still the original version. At least I will be prepared. Anyway, congratulations to the writer Stieg Larsson that created three great episodes with full of suspense and intrigues. Damn good 7/10.

This, the second of the 'Millennium Trilogy, sees the return of Lisbeth Salander and investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist and if you haven't seen 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' you are likely to be confused as to what is going on as plot details related to events in that film aren't explained. Mikael is working on a story that will expose prominent people who have been complicit in the trafficking of young women and shortly afterwards two people who provided him with key information are killed. The murder weapon has Lisbeth's fingerprints on it and it was stolen from her legal guardian who has also been murdered. The police believe that she did it but Mikael is convinced of her innocence. The two of them end up leading parallel investigations that will lead them to the mysterious 'Zala' who is apparently involved in the trafficking and is closely connected to Lisbeth.After 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' this instalment feels very televisual and there is less suspense... although this might be down to knowing that the protagonists must survive to appear in the third film! That said if you enjoy TV crime dramas then you should enjoy this too; the story features a suitable amount of action and there are interesting revelations about Lisbeth's background that I didn't see coming. It was also interesting to keep the two protagonists apart until the very end. Noomi Rapace is once again brilliant as Lisbeth and Michael Nyqvist does a fine job as Mikael; a far less showy role. While the story is good there are some distinct flaws; the huge blond unstoppable German seemed rather cliché and I don't see how Lisbeth could survived one encounter that left her not only shot but also buried! Still despite these faults it was well worth watching and left me keen to see how the story ends in 'The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest'.

As soon as the "movie" begins, you discover that there's someone else behind the camera and that is a made for TV feature. The beautiful mineral cinematography of the first part is gone as well for a warmer palette. If you would stumble on it, you could think it's a German TV show as "Derrick" and if you haven't seen the first episode, it may be hard for you to understand. The first half hour is a bit boring but as soon as all the pieces have been set, it's a good thriller. I'm not an expert in this genre but i find this trilogy is very inventive but also too much written, this is to say luck or coincidence happened to often (fingerprints, fallen keys, ...). Worse, as in bad comic books (and already in part one), the bad guys are careless and prefer make a speech instead of finishing their business. Thus, they left alive the ones they wanted to kill and it's highly unbelievable, all the more that it happens twice in this movie.What's interesting however is that the author depicts crime against women in a very crude but realistic way. It's not the baroque drama of a lot of American movie. Also, for me, as the story happens in Stockholm, it gets personal because i went there (the garden cemetery, the embankment, the coffees,...) and we can see that Sweden is indeed a fine beautiful country. Noomi is very convincing again because as she has not much lines, she had to be very expressive. Her parter is astounding as well: looking a bit like our french icon, Jonhnny Halliday, and Russian icon, Vova, this unknown so far Mike Nyqvist worths to be recognized. His way of pairing strength, wit and compassion makes him a close brother of Liam Neeson. But the biggest surprise for me is that the duo doesn't work together again, because this time, each one works on each side. Thus, it can be good sequel and not a mere repetition and i wait impatiently for the last part.