REVIEW: The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest (2010)

  The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest is the final film in the late journalist/ author Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy. With Hollywood already working on its own adaptations, there is little doubt that this series has had an impact. Despite this, it remains to be seen how these Swedish versions will stand the test of time.

  The plot picks up immediately after where the second film left off. The uninitiated will struggle to figure out what’s going on as Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) and Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) investigate the conspiracy that allowed Salander to be locked away and abused for years. It soon becomes apparent that the schemes reach as high as the government. The loyal Millennium magazine staff is under threat and attempts are made on both Salander and Blomkvist’s lives. On top of this, Salander is being tried for attempted murder and Blomkvist has to help clear her name. Meanwhile, Salander’s half-brother Niedermann (Micke Spreitz) rampages across Sweden in search of revenge.

  Those who aren’t fond of these films will not be swayed by this two and a half hour closer, while ardent fans will get more of what they loved in the first two. Otherwise, it’s just a reasonably diverting thriller with a lot of convoluted plotting to keep things moving. One restaurant shoot-out has a build-up that is as suspenseful as any above-average recent thriller and with a well-shot action sequence to follow. This film, like the series in general, is entertaining but not anything particularly special.

  The best feature of this film remains the visuals. The big budget is clearly on display, creating a distinctly Hollywood feel. The visuals go beyond mere mimicry, however, effortlessly conveying a corrupt and dangerous society. This has always been the strong suit of this series, even if things always comfortably wrap up by the film’s end. The happy endings always seem out of place in such a predatory and unsympathetic landscape. Unfortunately, the film’s inability to sustain a dark and foreboding tone means that it will take itself deadly seriously when you cannot.

  Unintentional comedy has both plagued and saved this thriller series. On one hand it ruins the mood but on the other, it keeps it entertaining. Ultimately, these films are guilty pleasures rather than great thrillers. They require so little emotional investment that they will never rise above the level of an entertaining potboiler. In the end, these films are good while they are on, but entirely disposable when they are gone.

  The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest is for fans of this series. It is good, but it is doubtful whether it will be remembered for long, or if it will make any of the critics’ forthcoming Top 10 of 2010 lists. But for those waiting with bated breath for the Hollywood versions (directed by David Fincher, now due a bad film after the great The Social Network): why bother? The Swedish ones are as good as this kind of thing gets.



REVIEW: The Girl Who Played With Fire (2010)

  The Girl Who Played With Fire is the second in the Millennium Trilogy, a Swedish series of adaptations from the novels penned by the late Stieg Larsson. These films, as well as the novels that inspired them, have caused something of a storm all over the world and are currently being remade in the US. Less a sequel than a continuation, the film is, for better or worse, more of the same.

  The film takes place about a year after the end of the first instalment, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. After some time in hiding, Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) returns to investigate a sex-trafficking ring with her loyal sidekick Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), editor of watchdog magazine Millennium. Various shady characters conspire against the couple, and its not long before Salander is framed for three murders. Salander and Mikael follow alternate lines of investigation, with Mikael simultaneously getting deeper into the investigation and trying to clear Salander’s name. As the investigation continues, Salander finds things getting a little too close to home. By the end, many of the mysteries behind this most vague of lead characters are revealed.

  Many of the surprises that came with the earlier The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and which made the film a pleasing diversion, are missing here. The novelty value of a big Swedish production mimicking the conventional Hollywood thriller is exhausted. The Girl Who Played With Fire has no such saving grace and, unfortunately, it is noticeably the lesser of the two films.

  However, the film does retain much of what made the first film an enjoyable watch. The plotting is intricate and somewhat engaging, while the moody atmosphere and good use of scenery are both features that keep the film interesting. The often stark countryside and the bright but empty city evoke both a palpable realism as well as a vicious criminal underworld. While the first film is much more hard-edged, with a rape scene that was hard to watch and some genuinely chilling moments, the second is less successful in maintaining a sense of evil.

  The problems are more pronounced than in the first film, mainly because they are repeated. The film really isn’t as clever as it thinks it is, and is certainly not above the most screeching of plot machinations to get characters to where they need to be. The unintentional comedy makes a somewhat welcome return, giving the film an entertainment value it might otherwise have lacked. There is the sudden appearance of an entirely unnecessary and rather schlocky lesbian sex scene and as well as the long-awaited reveal of a scarred bad guy. This is possibly the film’s funniest moment, being both an unexpected reminder of splatter classic Braindead and an Airplane-style example of straight-faced madness. These moments are the sequences that remind you of what it was you liked about the Millennium series in the first place. A certain silliness played entirely seriously, which can’t help but be a little fun.

  All in all, The Girl Who Played With Fire is an entertaining film with a good sense of humour, even if it doesn’t know it itself. The visuals remain the best thing about it, possibly being the one feature that holds this ramshackle but enjoyable series together.

  

REVIEW: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2009)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the first of the Millennium trilogy, a big-budget adaptation of a series of books by Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson. The story centres on both disgraced journalist Mikael and the violent and troubled young Lisbeth who, through alternate paths, become embroiled in a 40-year-old mystery- the disappearance of a young woman. They investigate with an entire extended family of suspects over their shoulders. Needless to say, things get more mysterious as they get more dangerous.

Going in, having never read the books, I had no idea what to expect. Being a Swedish adaptation rather than a Hollywood translation, I was prepared to like it on principle. The fact that it was made in Sweden was a good sign as my only previous experience of the recent Swedish crime fiction boom had been a turgid series of Kenneth Branagh-starring adaptations of Henkel Manning’s Wallander series. I found an entertaining film, though one that could easily have been a Hollywood film if it wasn’t for the fact that everyone was speaking Swedish.

It’s disposable-fun while it lasts but gone from your mind once it reaches its end. The spy thriller-like score, the picturesque Scandinavian landscape and the obvious high budget all help to create a good, speedy murder mystery. There’s something likeably old-fashioned about it and it does have a sense of humour. Indeed, the violence that lifts the film to an 18 rating feels slightly out of place, as the audience that may appreciate this film the most may be 15 years old. This is, however, a small qualm in this entertaining yarn, which uses its big budget not in the spirit of excess but to heighten the film’s visuals. Best are its chilling sequences in which photographs are analysed and murderers and victims found, which brings to mind Antonioni’s Blow-Up.

Regrettably, however, there are some problems. The film continues much too long after its denouement, losing its way and struggling to find a punchy note to end on. Here, things get a little schmaltzy and, at times, unintentionally comedic. The corny ending undercuts the sense of the seedy and violent underworld that the film had manages to convey so well earlier. Hollywood romanticism creeps into this dark realist tale, allowing for total closure. The fact that the world that this film creates does not allow loose ends is hard to believe. A peek into Lisbeth’s childhood via flashback may raise more mirth than empathy. Her younger self and her dad have the exact same grimace: an excellent bit of casting or a funny accident.

If these sound like quibbles, it’s probably because they are. All in all, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a highly enjoyable thriller and well worth seeking out. I look forward to the next two instalments of the trilogy (The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest) both coming out later this year.