Film Review: THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE [Flickan som lekte med elden] (2009)

Director: Daniel Alfredson
Running time: 178 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 18

Genre: Mystery/Thriller/Drama/Crime
UK Release date: 27^th August 2010

Watched on DVD Friday 28^th October 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

The second part of Stieg Larsson’s ‘Millennium Trilogy’ comes to the screen and there’s no let-up for many of the characters from the first instalment. This time it’s Lisbeth Salander who has the spotlight turned on her past. Again, I watched it in Swedish with subtitles and again I found it quite intriguing. I will tell you more after this very brief summary.

A new story for the Millennium magazine brings Mikael Blomkvist into the world of human trafficking. This time it’s women from Eastern Europe being smuggled into Sweden for the sex industry. When a reporter and his wife are murdered, Blomkvist is devastated to learn that the murder weapon has Lisbeth Salander’s fingerprints all over it! Claiming her innocence, he proceeds with his own investigation into the case. At the same time, Lisbeth Salander, having returned to Sweden, also has an angle on the case. The evidence points to a mysterious character known as ‘Zala’, someone from Lisbeth’s past. As the net tightens, she must confront her past and exorcise some demons. I will leave it there or the Spoiler Police will be framing me for too much exposure (again).

Very well made with a very brooding musical score by Jacob Groth. As ever, both Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomkvist and Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander did an excellent job. Also worthy of note were; Lena Endre as Erika Berger, Yasmine Garbi as Miriam Wu and Peter Andersson as Nils Bjurman.

I found this a much more complicated plot than The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, there seems to be more twists and turns in this one. Also, it’s a very ‘wordy’ script, which makes it quite hard to watch with subtitles, especially given its length! Even so, I did enjoy this thriller, maybe not quite as much as the first one, but enough for me to want to complete the trilogy. So, despite being a tad (& a half) too long, I still enjoyed this complicated, brooding thriller… maybe not as much as part one, but still enough to deem it… Recommended.

My Score: 6.9/10

IMDb Score: 6.8/10 (based on 20,648 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1216487/

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 69/100 (based on 147 reviews counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/girl_who_played_with_fire/

LINKS:
Official Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/girlwhoplayedwithfire
Official Site: http://playedwithfirefilm.com/
Trailer: