Film Review: The Girl who played with Fire

Director: Daniel Alfredson

The second book of the millenium series by the late Steig Larsson sees Lisbeth's past come back to haunt her whilst Blomqvist investigates an illegal sex-trafficking ring that brings him back close to Lisbeth. After a spate of killings involving key people in the sex slave industry, the killings are seemed to have been committed by Lisbeth as her fingerprints are on the gun owned by her guardian, the creepy Nils Bjurman who is also killed. She hides out trying to find out who is behind it all whilst Blomqvist does the same from the offices at Millenium.

Lisbeth Salander fighting her way out of yet more trouble

The film has a new scriptwriter and director but retains much of the same feel as the first, mainly down to the performances of Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist. The film isn't as surprising and shocking as the first as you are lot more familiar with the characters and their behaviour. The acting is once again reasonably impressive especially from the new characters involved in the second movie.

Having read the books around six months ago I had a decent knowledge of how the plot goes but even I had moments where I was unsure. This film seems exclusively for people that have read the books so know what is happening as I think it would be baffling otherwise. Unfortunately the nerve-wracking tension of the book doesn't translate onto the screen as well either, the slightly claustrophobic tension of everyone spying on each other and the corruption inside the government and Swedish Security Service.

2.5/4 slow starting but tense build-up to the final part of the trilogy.