The Girl Who Played With Fire [MA] -Swedish

Michael Blomkvist is back at Millennium, ready to cause a fresh new media ruckus. So when a young freelance journalist and researcher approaches him about publishing an article about sex-trafficking, Blomkvist is very eager to expose the people in high places who are involved in the crime. However, things go horribly wrong when the young journalist, Dag Svensson, and his girlfriend are found murdered. The plot thickens as Blomkvist's old friend Lisbeth Salander is identiefied as the prime suspect. Convinced of her innocence, Blomkvist dives into yet another dark and sinister mystery that will produce some disturbing truths. 

I watched David and Margaret give their two cents on this movie on the ABC and even though they delivered some disappointing news about the movie, I still escorted myself to the cinema to see it. David and Margaret were right. 


Michael Blomkvist has gone back to the Millennium offices and is ready to create another media ruckus like he did with the Wennerstrom Affair. So when a young freelance journalist and reseacher named Dag Svensson approches Millennium with an article about sex-trafficking, Blomkvist cannot resist exposing those respected people in high places for what they really are: corrupt criminals. However, things go horribly wrong when Dag Svensson and his girlfriend Mia are found shot dead in their apartment. For Blomkvist, everything goes from bad to worse when the police come up with a prime suspect who's fingerprints have been discovered all over the murder weapon: Lisbeth Salander. Having worked with Salander before, on a case where she saved his life, Blomkvist is convinced of her innoncence and, in order to have her name cleared, he dives into yet another dark and sinister investigation that will bring some very dark and disturbing truths to light.


I have to start by saying that The Girl Who Played With Fire is nowhere near as thrilling and engrossing as its predecessor The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Which is a real shame because it was the other way round with the books. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was brilliant, but The Girl Who Played With Fire was the most gripping and amazing thing that I have read to date. And then to watch this movie, I could feel the floor falling away from under my feet. I was quite disappointed. 
The film has a different director, Daniel Alfredson, and a different screenwriter, Jonas Frykberg, and I found that really obvious in the way this movie was done. The film looks more like a dramatic crime mini-series, all the stories are thrown together carelessly and jaggedly, most of the time without any explanation as to where you are and who you're watching, which is why reading the book before you see the film is almost always the right way to go. Niels Arden Oplev directed the first movie and Nikolai Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg wrote the screenplay, which was wonderful. It's a real shame that the torch has been passed over.
And even the characters seemed different. Michael Nykvist who plays Blomkvist really does have only one facial expression and Noomi Rapace, who was so enchatingly mysterious in the first film isn't so in this one.
I will say that the use of music was very good. It did manage to convery the anticipation and everything that the book has oozing out of it. There was even a moment where I gave a little startled jump in the cinema, thank God it was dark.
But all in all, The Girl Who Played With Fire was a real disappoinment. Stieg Larsson's wonderful crime story is closey cropped and the film is nowhere near as gripping as the first one.