Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist remain extraordinarily well-suited to their roles, but the second installment in Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy doesn't pack quite as much punch as the first. Read critic reviews
The Girl Who Played With Fire
2009, Mystery & thriller/Crime, 2h 9m
162 Reviews 25,000+ RatingsWhat to know
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Movie Info
Lisbeth, a computer hacker, goes on the run after being accused of three murders. It is up to journalist Mikael to investigate to try and clear her name.
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Rating: R (Language|Brutal Violence|Nudity|Rape|Some Strong Sexual Content)
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Genre: Mystery & thriller, Crime, Drama
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Original Language: Swedish
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Director: Daniel Alfredson
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Producer: Søren Stærmose
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Writer: Jonas Frykberg
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Release Date (Theaters): limited
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Release Date (Streaming):
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Runtime:
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Distributor: Music Box Films
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Critic Reviews for The Girl Who Played With Fire
Audience Reviews for The Girl Who Played With Fire
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The Millennium Trilogy continues with the action-packed thriller The Girl Who Played with Fire. This time the plot is intricately tied to Lisbeth and her backstory. When Lisbeth Salander is implicated in a triple murder that's connected to a sex-trafficking expose Mikael Blomkvist's magazine is working on, he attempts to clear her name. While there's a lot going on in the story, it ends up being a bit underwhelming. And the filming style seems to be more sexually explicit than the material requires, or at least it's more exploitative. Yet despite some changes in style and direction, The Girl Who Played with Fire is a solid entry into this dark and gritty series.
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Ah, that's too bad. As often dictated by "sequels", the decline in quality had to happen here as well. The project fell into the hands of another director. Consequently, the vibe is completely different, from a cheaper-looking budget, to a more independent style of filmmaking, to less emphasis on the characters and little loyalty to the environment that had been present in the previous events. The connection feels more forced than necessary. The iconic thrills of the past movie have been lost. We are left, then, with a below average crime story with a boring execution and little to remember. Even some ridiculous Hollywood stunts were pulled, like your typical all-muscle, gigantic blond Russian guy with superhuman strength that feels no pain, and an old man as the bad guy that has the creepy looks of a disfigured Jigsaw guy. A decent cinematography and some provocative/disturbing scenes along with passable performances could rescue the ride, but is it worth it? No. Stick to the original and to Fincher's re-adaptation. As for me, unfortunately, I have to complete a trilogy if I have already made it this far... 58/100
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In my opinion, the best book in the series, so the film was quite a letdown. Lisbeth becomes much more pacified than from both the Dragon Tattoo and from the source material. Ultimately, the film suffers from rushing every aspect and holding a blatant disregard for the way the characters interact in the novel.
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Lisbeth Salander is the prime suspect in a scandal involving Swedish sex trafficking. I love Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander, and even if she were just reading the phone book, I think I'd find her performance and the character compelling. While The Girl who Played with Fire isn't the phone book, it's not as interesting as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo because there isn't the cold case antiquity of the mystery and the depth of having family drama at the film's heart. Focusing on sex trafficking, what this film does have is a clearer concentration on the theme that prevailed in Larsson's first book, misogyny. It's a theme Larsson handles with ease, creating male monsters and reasons why women like Salander revolt. Overall, the Millennium Trilogy continues to compel even if this doesn't reach the great heights that the original achieved.
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