Outlaw hacker Lisbeth Salander (Rapace) awaits trial for attempted murder. Journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Nyqvist) gathers evidence about her tragic past to help her case. A Swedish intelligence agency wants her silenced and her maniacal half-brother wants her dead.


A pick-up after the second film, if not as assured as the first. Rapace sets a high watermark for Rooney Mara in David Fincher's remakes.


Empire
Copyright ACP Magazines

While the least satisfying instalment in the trilogy, this still throbs with a slow-burning tension and provides an appropriate farewell to a compelling series.

In the final instalment of the Millennium Trilogy books by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest, the tempo slows and we are shown a different side of the series' heroine, Lisbeth Salander, making it much longer for the enthralling tension of the earlier films to develop. Like the book, however, its slow unfurling is essential, as it wraps up all the elements of the complex plot and provides an appropriate farewell for its oddly captivating heroine.
Lisbeth (Noomi Rapace) is recovering in hospital from three bullet wounds sustained at the end of the second film. Critically injured, she is barely capable of moving, much less performing any of the stunts that kept us mesmerised in the other films. If she makes a full recovery, she is due to stand trial in Stockholm for three murders. Lisbeth's ability to prepare her own defence is obviously severely limited. Others, such as journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) and her lawyer, Annika Giannini (Annika Hallin), work furiously to prove her innocence and reveal what really took place over the years of conspiracy against her, as Lisbeth got too close to the secrets of a group of powerful men.
Of the three films, this is the least satisfying, largely due to the change in focus away from Lisbeth in the first half, as other characters and storylines dominate, but once in the courtroom, it comes into its own.
Again, Rapace is superb. Despite her character's limited dialogue, she has a wonderful ability to convey emotion, and to make us care about Lisbeth's destiny.

It will be interesting to see what David Fincher will do with the American remake of these films. The bar is set high, and it's hard to imagine anyone other than Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth. Stay tuned!

Filmink
Copyright Filmink

Now to the conclusion of Stieg Larsson's trilogy, THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST. After being shot three times and buried alive at the end of THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE, Lisbeth Salander, NOOMI RAPACE, is slowly recovering in a hospital in Gothenberg cared for by a supportive doctor, Aksel Morisse. In a nearby hospital room her evil father, Zalachenko, GEORGI STAYKOV, is gunned down by an elderly member of 'The Section', a rogue group within the Swedish Security Service, who have been protecting Zalachenko, a Cold War Soviet defector, at the expense of his daughter. Meanwhile Millenium journalist Mikael Blomqvist, MICHAEL NYQVIST, is writing an expose of 'The Section' which places him and his colleagues in danger.

Reflecting the books in Stieg Larsson's hugely popular trilogy, the film versions have become progressively less interesting, at least in terms of plotting. The third film has a particular disadvantage in that the feisty Salander, well played by Noomi Rapace, is confined to a hospital bed for about an hour and then to a prison cell for what seems like another hour - only near the end does she get involved in the action. But for me the most deadening aspect of these films is the presence of Michael Nykvist as Blomqvist; he seems to have a personality by-pass, and remains expressionless at all times, no matter what's going on.

It's really boring. The plot, involving John Le Carre-like veteran agents intent on covering up their past crimes - all done for the good of Sweden of course - gets a bit convoluted, but Daniel Alfredson does a better job with this than he did with Part 2 - at least THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST looks like a movie, instead of a cut-down TV special.

At The Movies
Copyright ABC