Sunday, September 18, 2011

The Girl who played with Fire Review

The second film in the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, The Girl Who Played with Fire, focuses much more on Lisbeth Salander than the first film. After hacking into Nils Bjurman's computer she returns to Sweden to ensure the terms of their agreement are honored. While there Lisbeth purchases a new apartment and meets up with her friend Miriam Wu and offers her her old apartment. Meantime Millennium Magazine interviews a potential new journalist, Dag Svensson who's been working on a story involving kidnapping , prostitution and sex trafficking in Sweden alongside his girlfriend Mia. With only a few contacts left to speak with Mikael Blomkvist welcomes Dag to the Millenium team. But Dag's employment at Millenium is short lived due to a slight case of death. The murder weapon is traced to  Nils Bjurman...who is also found dead and guess who's prints are on the gun??? So now the authorities are searching for Lisbeth Salander, Blomkvist uses the knowledge of Lisbeth's computer skills to tell her he believes she's innocent. Through the course of the film we learn more of Lisbeth's childhood which explains why she has a state appointed guardian and we get a clearer understanding of her. As the two do their separate investigations into the crimes the threat begins to manifest itself to Lisbeth as a monster from her past but unbeknownst to her that very same threat to her is also a threat to the the government, thus she now finds herself the focal point of to opposing forces. The second film concludes with Lisbeth tracking down the the mysterious "Zala" and facing the monster responsible for her being suspected of multiple homocide and many other injustices she's had to live thru in her life. Much like the way she came to Mikaels rescue at the end of the first film, he finds her in a desparate fight for survival at the end of The Girl who Played with Fire! 

I really enjoyed this film, the scope of events truly multiplies from a beginning that ties into events from the first film to a point where Lisbeth's life is threatened by secret agencies within her government to those closest to her. It is very cloak and dagger stuff that had my intently focused from begining to end! My wife and I went straight to the third film to see what happens next, it's not a cliffhanger per se but there is enough going on to make you want to see what happens next.
By this point in the trilogy the characters are so well developed that little more back story is required and the third chapter really takes off with the dangers to Lisbeth, Mikael and the team at Millenium all around them yet invisible!

B+

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