The Girl Who Played with Fire

I watched The Girl Who Played with Fire at the 4-Star in September.

The Girl Who Played with Fire starring Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist; directed by Daniel Alfredson; Swedish with subtitles; (2009) - Official Website

The Girl Who Played with Fire is the middle entry of The Millennium Trilogy. The films are based on a popular series of novels by the late Stieg Larsson. The first film was The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo which I saw in July. The final film is The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest which opens in the Bay Area on Friday, October 29.

The Girl Who Played with Fire follows the further adventures of cyberpunk, bisexual, all-around badass Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) and journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist). I enjoyed The Girl Who Played with Fire slightly more than The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. In this film, Salander is framed for the murder of her odious guardian and rapist Nils Bjurman (Peter Anderssson).

I won't give too much of the plot away except to say that Salander reconnects with her father...you know, the guy she nearly killed as a girl. Her father has some surprises of his own including a step-brother Salander never met and after their memorable encounter, wishes she never had met. That character, Ronald Niedermann (Mikael Spreitz), will be making a return in The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest.

The Girl Who Played with Fire is nearly an hour shorter than The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and is not bogged down by a 40 year old murder case or introducing the main characters. Also, it's personal for Salander this time. Last time, it was Blomkvist's ass on the line and Salander was saving it. In The Girl Who Played with Fire, Salander is framed for murder, beat up, shot and buried alive but at least Blomkvist arrives in time to scare away her attacker. Salander is definitely the dominant character in The Millennium Trilogy and as such her exploits and sufferings make the film more riveting.