Following The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire is an exciting, tense thriller and does a nice job continuing the story of the “Millennium” trilogy. Of course, it is the two main actors that pull this film together, Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace. They may not spend hardly anytime together on-screen in this one, but their performances stay connected and they show a really tight grasp on who their characters are. These two are just as spectacular in this one as they were in Tattoo, especially Rapace.
From the best-selling novel by Stieg Larsson, we find Mikael Blomkvist getting ready to run a piece about sex trafficking between Sweden and Eastern Europe, and this story will reveal and ruin powerful people in Swedish society. This includes people in government and those who work for the justice system, so it is no surprise that on the night before the story is going to be published, the two investigating reporters are found murdered with the murder weapon having the fingerprints of one Lisbeth Salander. Though Mikael has not seen Lisbeth in over a year, he sets out to find out who did this and fight for Lisbeth’s innocence while Lisbeth does her own investigating the only way she knows how.
The Girl Who Played With Fire is a great second film in this trilogy with director Daniel Alfredson furthering the story about Lisbeth – who she is and where she came from. This film is finding out about a murder, but it is a way for us to find out about Lisbeth’s past as well. That is what really makes this film interesting because we get to know more about this mysterious woman with a cool tattoo on her back. She still remains a secret in several ways, but we are slowly picking away and finding some truth to who this woman really is.
I do not think Fire is as captivating as Tattoo, but it is still exciting to watch and try and figure out. The violence and action are still there and possibly more of it in this one. The trilogy that Stieg Larsson wrote is about crime, corruption, and the brutality towards women. These things were in its predecessor and it is in this one as well. These films (like the books) take place in a dirty and dark world that may be inescapable.
Nyqvist and Rapace never miss a step and could not be better. They have become their characters and know how to show their strengths and weaknesses perfectly. Rapace was so impressive in Tattoo and she keeps it up in Fire. Lisbeth is an extraordinary woman and what a role it is to take on. But Rapace is more than up for the challenge and she shows no signs of losing her sight on who Lisbeth is and dealing with the secrets she carries with her.
The Girl Who Plays With Fire reveals more and though it may not deliver as hard of a punch as Tattoo did, the film stays enthralling and entertaining throughout. I have not read the popular novels so I do not know what awaits me in the last film, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest. But I can say that I am looking forward to it and do not see it failing expectations.
“Nature Boy” Brandon Vick is the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and star of Brandon’s Box Office In Your Mouth. Follow him on Twitter@SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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