Oh no she didn't! *Wags finger around*

The Girl Who Played With Fire – Stieg Larsson

The second in the famous Millennium trilogy and the film adaptation of Stieg Larsson books, The Girl Who Played With Fire ups the stakes of the first and puts us again in the shoes of Lisbeth as she goes about trying to clear her name with the help of her good out friend Mikael, an investigative journalist. I surprisingly enjoyed the first film without knowing what they were about and the success of the book series. It’s like someone showing you Harry Potter without knowing anything about The Boy Who Lived and seeing that the films are great, but once you know the books and some of the things they miss out, it may change your view. I haven’t read these books, but there are a lot of people out there who enjoy them and enjoy the films. The second in the trilogy had a lot of hype going into it, it seemed as though they have knocked out all three films in one go as not to change the mood or the style of the whole piece. The third has just recently been released in cinemas, so check out the first two before you do that otherwise you won’t get certain connections or call-backs to previous things such as the relationship between Lisbeth and Mikael. This film is certainly European but it doesn’t feel like it’s trying to be European like some foreign films do, it feels natural, taking elements of Hollywood cinema and making them accessible to European audiences who are maybe more adjusted to more sophisticated work.

Following Lisbeth Salander, the mysterious black haired, Goth-looking millionaire as she comes back to Sweden to find herself in the middle of allegations she was the culprit of a journalist and his wife’s murder revolving around an article about human trafficking and prostitution. She is quickly spread around the press and media being the lead in the killings and goes on the run whilst at the same time being on the run from dangerous men who have been hired to kill her including a tall blonde guy who can’t feel any pain and some hidden people behind the scenes pulling the strings. She contacts Mikael to help her clear her name and he soon goes onto investigating who really did uncovering, well let’s say, it’s a good ending which you will properly see, and it doesn’t have the pay off of the first film’s twist but it’s decent.

A good film, not as great an impact as the first but it should be good to see how they end the whole saga, and if Mikael and Lisbeth will ever settle down or continue to be strangers but contact through internet piracy.

6/10

Simon Childs