The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (2009)
Average Rating: 5.9/10
Reviews Counted: 128
Fresh: 69 | Rotten: 59
Slow and mostly devoid of the stellar chemistry between its two leads, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest is a disappointingly uneven conclusion to the Millennium trilogy.
Average Rating: 6.4/10
Critic Reviews: 30
Fresh: 17 | Rotten: 13
Slow and mostly devoid of the stellar chemistry between its two leads, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest is a disappointingly uneven conclusion to the Millennium trilogy.
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Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 26,712
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Movie Info
Author Stieg Larsson's "Millennium Trilogy" winds to a close with The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, director Daniel Alfredson's adaptation of the best-selling novel following punky protagonist Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) as she fights to prove that she's innocent of committing multiple murders. As Lisbeth lies in intensive care, the corrupt officials in high office attempt to take advantage of her incapacitated state by accusing her of murder. But fiercely independent Lisbeth isn't
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Cast
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Noomi Rapace
Lisbeth Salander -
Michael Nyqvist
Mikael Blomkvist -
Annika Hallin
Annika Giannini -
Per Oscarsson
Holger Palmgren -
Lena Endre
Erika Berger -
Peter Andersson
Nils Bjurman -
Jacob Ericksson
Christer Malm -
Sofia Ledarp
Malin Eriksson -
Johan Kylén
Jan Bublanski -
Tanja Lorentzon
Sonja Modig -
Mirja Turestedt
Monica Figuerola -
Anders Ahlbom Rosendahl
Peter Teleborian -
Magnus Krepper
Hans Fastte -
Michalis Koutsogiannakis
Dragan Armanskij -
Niklas Hjulstrom
Richard Ekström, Richa... -
Hans Alfredson
Evert Gullberg -
Micke Spreitz
Ronald Niedermann -
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Gyorgi Staykov
Alexander Zalachenko -
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Tina Berg
Nurse -
-
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All Critics (128) | Top Critics (30) | Fresh (70) | Rotten (59) | DVD (3)
A more apt title would be 'The Girl Who Sat Quietly in a Dimly Lit Room'.
Top CriticIt's only our investment in these fascinating characters and in wholly unraveling the mystery of Lisbeth Salander's awful past that keep it compelling.
Hornet's Nest has a steady, bulletlike trajectory.
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is too akin to the tidying up of a television-series finale - albeit a very classy franchise with fine characters and able performances.
If you haven't seen the first two films, do so and then see this one. If you have seen them, chances are you're already in the ticket line. Hornet's Nest has such a sweet sting.
Much of the problem can be traced to the villains of the piece: The snakes in the establishment are a bunch of really old white guys. Now this may be true to life, but it's hell on drama.
The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest doesn't exactly give the Millennium trilogy the explosive send-off it deserves, and stacked against the other two movies in the series, it's perhaps the weakest story of the three.
This film ends up being more of a courtroom drama, and yet it's almost as equally thrilling as the first film in the series.
Will make no sense to those who haven't seen the first two or read the books
The "Millennium" completist doesn't need to be told to pick this up, but would be well advised to understand that the set contains the TV version of the trilogy.
Unlike its two predecessors, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest boasts a briskly-paced opening half hour that proves effective at immediately drawing the viewer into the movie...
They cannot overcome completely the redundant, static nature of much of the novel, but they put up a good fight.
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.
The best thing that can be said about the excruciatingly dull, badly made closing chapter in this punishingly bad Swedish crime trilogy is that it really whets the appetite for the upcoming American version.
Its seems as if the production has taken a bullet to the brain just like its heroine.
Seeing the first two films -- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire -- will make the third film more satisfying.
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.
It's a story with something to say and a powerful way of saying it
At 142 minutes, it's long with some confusion, but the luminous presence of its star Noomi Rapace makes it well worth the journey
Lisbeth Salander, played by Noomi Rapace, spends most of the story constrained -- first in the hospital, then in prison. What fun is that?
The third and final entry in Stieg Larsson's enormously successful series is perhaps the least thrilling, but it's easily the most satisfying.
Director Daniel Alfredson goes through the motions of the exposition-heavy plot with more efficiency than excitement...
Finale of dark subtitled Swedish trilogy still very violent.
Semi-satisfying, if you can keep up.
Lisbeth Salander remains the riveting centerpiece of the two films that follow on from Dragon Tattoo, but, alas, her continuing story has been winnowed down in a way that makes it -- and her -- feel smaller than before.
The gap between this and Dragon Tattoo is pretty big -- this won't be on my '10 Best' list and Tattoo might -- but as the rest of the story, it does nicely.
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October 29, 2010:
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Foreign Titles
- Vergebung (DE)
- The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Luftslottet som sprangdes) (UK)
While I find this film a fitting conclusion to one of the best thriller trilogies in recent memory, as a stand-alone film, it doesn't do much but continue the trajectory of the second installment. The villains whom we thought were vanquished return in different forms. As a result, there's nothing new added to the story or the characters, and The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is a good film but ultimately unnecessary. This is especially true at the very end; I won't give away any specifics, but it's enough to say that I was left wanting a more satisfying conclusion to the connection that the first two films developed between Salander and Blomkvist.
Noomi Rapace is Lisbeth Salander, the best actress for the part and a perfect embodiment of what the character projects, and the same can be said of Michael Nyqvist. I don't know if they're going to make an American remake of this film (I assume they are), but for all of Rooney Mara's talents, no one captures Salander's nihilism like Rapace.
Overall, you should see The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest to complete the trilogy, but don't expect anything approaching the first film.