The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest ***

Director: Daniel Alfredson
Cast: Noomi Rapace, Michael Nyqvist
Lena Endre, Annika Hallin, Sofia Ledarp, Jacob Ericksson
Anders Ahlbom, Aksel Morisse, Micke Spreitz

When Stieg Larsson died leaving behind the manuscripts for what later became the Millennium novels, he inadvertently created a trilogy that thrives and suffers from the qualities it inherited.
This being the last film adaptation can't help but feel awkward because as a movie it has to have a sense of closure but as a story it has so much more to say.
Therefore The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest works specifically as the conclusion of the case that first got Lisbeth Salander (Rapace) and Mikael Blomkvist (Nyqvist) together.
In this chapter, Blomkvist must fight the system to prevent Lisbeth from being committed into a psychiatric hospital for the rest of her life.
If the main plot feels completely linear and slightly predictable (Alfredson uses the same directorial techniques he recurred to in the previous installment) this one is more effective because of the larger context in which the events take place, particularly in its vision of Sweden.
What we encounter in this trilogy is a conflicting portrait of a country known the world over for its peacefulness.
So what can we make of an action series that deals with deep corruption, decadence and a complete lack of empathy between young and older generations?
Is this dark vision of Sweden a fabrication of its author or an insider's look at a carefully concealed reality? To try and chose between these options would be to discredit fiction or disbelieve contemporary history; yet the point is that the film's mood evokes this ambiguity and gets us making questions.
Perhaps trying to spice up the humdrum nature of most common careers or maybe Larsson was really on to something...
What can't be denied is that throughout the trilogy, there's a battle between history and the future; Lisbeth's story, if anything else, is made of a conflict between her hatred for her past and her need to avenge it to obtain a future.
In a way, this film is also a fascinating commentary on the way European politics have had a hard time breaking away from traditionalist views. One of the main subplots deals with the discovery of a secret government unit exerting great power even after its official extinction.
The way in which the troubled heroine must face these dying monsters, willing to give up their revered position makes for some compelling drama.
"Reminds me of a Greek tragedy" says a character about Salander's past.
Rapace, once more, is able to reveal new layers in Lisbeth's personality. Her ability to express so much without words is remarkable, in what might be one of the highlights of her performance she delivers the most delicious smile in the most wicked situation.
That you smile along with her is testament to how much she has made the character her own. She's also particularly good in scenes with Aksel Morisse, who plays a sensitive doctor who befriends her and with Annika Hallin who plays her strong willed attorney. It's interesting to see her dynamic with Hallin because the Millennium trilogy is quite male centric, despite having a woman as main character.
This chapter also reminds us about the power of words, in Lisbeth's ability to write her story it gives her the gravitas other characters are trying to take away from her.
What can the movie be saying if it establishes that Lisbeth attains a chance at salvation only after she commits her life to paper?
Despite the fact that each cinematic installment diminished gradually in its thrills, the truth is that it's still a shame that this might be the last we hear of this character.

The Girl Who Played With Fire ***

Director: Daniel Alfredson
Caast: Noomi Rapace, Michael Nyqvist
Lena Endre, Peter Andersson, Per Oscarsson, Sofia Ledarp
Paolo Roberto, Yasmine Garbi, Georgi Staykov, Micke Spreitz
Michalis Koutsogiannakis, Hans Christian Thulin

You can't really blame Lisbeth Salander (Rapace) for hating men who hate women. In the second installment of the Millennium series not only must she face an entire police force looking for her but she also has to deal with a Jaws like henchman (Spreitz) and a terrible, haunting figure from her past.
Delivered with precise, IKEA like, workmanship by director Daniel Alfredson, the film lacks the cruel elegance of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo but still manages to be a well made, vastly entertaining thriller.
A year has passed since Mikael Blomkvist (Nyqvist) last saw Lisbeth and having returned to his post in Millennium magazine, he's dedicating his time to the unmasking of a human trafficking cartel hidden deep within some of Sweden's most prominent figures.
When one of his journalists (Thulin) is murdered, the police reveal their prime suspect is Lisbeth and a simultaneous hunt begins as Mikael, convinced of her innocence, is set on finding her before the authorities.
Perhaps out of blame on the sophomore slump (or the middle syndrome in a trilogy), this chapter feels too much like a transition to have more resonance. Despite of the life altering revelations made about some of the characters, the lack of nuance between the central mystery and the characters' lives feels lacking (perhaps the previous film spoiled us too much?).
Alfredson's directing style is much more straightforward than Niels Arden Oplev's; while Oplev had a respect for the film's literary origins, he still imprinted highly cinematic qualities upon it that Alfredson disregards in favor of a more blunt approach (this movie feels more like a great TV pilot).
Yet whatever the film lacks in stylistic wonders it more than makes up for with the growth of characters that were already fascinating to begin with.
This time around with Mikael being more at the office we begin to get glimpses of what has made him a loner; his sexual/professional relationship with Erika (the enigmatic Endre) begins to paint a larger portrait of a man with a past more bruised than he'd make us believe.
Nyqvist is again, terrific as Mikael, playing him with a confidence that makes him more than, book author, Stieg Larsson's alter ego.
His line delivery is spot on, when he arrogantly reminds a police officer that he's a "private snoop and understands no jack shit" there's a quality of delicious self indulgence that makes his actually insane choices seem inspired.
Rapace as well is able to make Lisbeth evolve from the introverted creature she was in the first chapter, into a scarily determined woman with revenge on her mind.
She gets more physical this time around and quickly becomes an obviously iconic action heroine (think Jennifer Garner's Sydney Bristow meets Matt Damon's Jason Bourne), because Rapace is not afraid to dig deep into the darkness that devours Lisbeth, each of her actions involves a mystery upon itself.
If to this you add the melancholic mood that prevails in the darkly romantic relationship between Lisbeth and Mikael, you have the makings of an even more complex dynamic.
If The Girl Who Played With Fire is a tonal downgrade from the first installment it can't help but fill us with a sense of eventual satisfaction and expectancy, for we still don't know how Lisbeth got that dragon tattoo.