The Girl Who Played with Fire (2010)

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

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

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

I lasted just over a half hour with this "movie" featuring a talent-less actress sporting silver rings (plural) in her nose. That was a major distraction, but the film overall was dreadful and I decided not to waste more of my life on it. Those who have rated it so highly must have a penchant for asinine Swedish "movies", or perhaps are masochists. Whatever. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

'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

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'.

This film picks up where the "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" left of with Lisbeth Salander living large on stolen money, but deciding she needs to go back to Sweden for some reason. SHe is immediately implicated in the murder of two reporters working for her love interest and the guardian who abused her in the first film.The rest of the film is a tiresome uncovering of clues, kind of like the first one, where the two main characters are on parallel tracks and don't even meet up until the end.This film is a look into the life of Sweden, which apparently has a secret police force. Other than that, it's really even duller than the first one, which is an accomplishment I guess.