The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (2010)

The third story in the Millennium series begins precisely where the second ended. Lisbeth is taken to the hospital. Shot three times and buried alive, she needs emergency brain surgery to remove a bullet. Her father is still alive and her half brother is still on the prowl. Eventually Lisbeth is transferred to a Stockholm jail where she awaits trial for attempted murder. In this story we learn the big backstory--not just Lisbeth's relationship with her father and half brother, but the relationship between Lisbeth's father and a secret security unit, unknown even to the Swedish prime minister. These characters are anxious to remain anonymous. That means eliminating witnesses (or, in Lisbeth's case, consigning her to an asylum, permanently).

Here's what to keep in mind. You should not pay any attention to film critics who fail to perceive the film's genre. Just because there are three books in the series, with a repeating cast of characters, you should not expect all three of the stories to be the same. The first story is actually a 'locked room' mystery (a locked island mystery, to be precise). The second story is very plot-driven, with far fewer atmospherics and the flavor of action/adventure. The third story is quite different. This is a legal thriller. The 'complaint' that Lisbeth spends half of the film in the hospital and the other half in court is unfair. Hey, this is Lisbeth. Do you really think she's going to sit idly by and not play a pivotal role in her own defense? And besides, we have the posse to end all posses: Blomkvist and the Millennium team, Lisbeth's former employer at the security agency and last, but most certainly not least, her hacker pal, Plague. They are supported by Blomkvist's sister, who serves as Lisbeth's defense attorney, and a whole security team, investigating the secret security team. There's plenty of conflict here between good and evil to satisfy any viewer and as the camera shifts from good guy to bad and the layers of Lisbeth's defense case are assembled, the (more cerebral) plot is riveting.

Finally, I don't want to give anything away, but trust me on this--Lisbeth is not going to be in the hospital or the court room forever. Her crazed half brother is still at large and he's got some serious 'splainin to do, except that Lisbeth may cut that discussion short, in a way that only Lisbeth could conceive and execute. The final scenes are, shall we say, very, very memorable.

As always, the direction is superb, the acting pitch perfect and the ending more satisfying than I could express (without spoiling it for all of you).

Given the genre and given what the film aspires to do, this is the top film in the series.

"The Girl Who Kicked A Hornet's Nest" is really more like "The Girl Who Played With Fire Part II" -this movie begins mere minutes after the end of the previous one, and everything stems from the film before it. The third and final film adapted from Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy is a taut, unnerving exploration of a government cover-up -with the titular "girl" as their victim.

Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) has been shot in the head, and is rushed to a hospital for surgery -the same hospital as her evil father Zalachenko. And since she's still being framed for murder, Mikael (Michael Nyqvist) devotes the forthcoming issue of "Millennium" to clearing her name and revealing the government's dirty secrets (including how they had her institutionalized as a kid).

But when Zalachenko threatens to rat them out, the "Section" sends an assassin to shoot him. Unfortunately, this group also wants want to punish Lisbeth by sticking her in another mental home, and the pedophile director Teleborian is all too happy to lock her up. The best chance Lisbeth has is to send her own "autobiograpy" to Mikael.

It's not a whodunnit, and it's not a straight thriller. "The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest" is a slow-moving, complex affair, centering on powerful men who try to crush women who defy them, and a system filled with in corrupt muck, cruelty and murder. It's part legal drama, part conspiracy story, and part bloody thriller.

And while not as harrowing as the movies before it, this movie is a bleak tangled web of threats, evidence,stalkings, and the occasional gory death (along with the hysteria that accompanies them). As the story goes on, it tauter and frightening, buoyed up by Lisbeth's impassive defiance (she walks into her own trial in full goth-punk regalia!).

The one flaw? The last fifteen minutes feel disconnected from the rest of the film, and the last scene feels... anticlimactic, and vaguely unfinished. Then again, since Larsson intended to write ten books, perhaps the "unfinished" flavor is inevitable.

Rapace is silent for long stretches of the story, and her impassive face, deep eyes and leashed energy make her a presence even when she doesn't speak. Her Lisbeth is full of defiance against the world, and it can only be seen through her dress and her silence. Nyqvist is good but rather overshadowed by Rapace; Anders Ahlbom is wonderfully vile as Teleborian --it's INCREDIBLY satisfying to see the pedophile get torn apart.

"The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest" ends on a "to be continued" note that will never be continued, but it's a satisfying end to the tale of Lisbeth Salander.

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I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, with a sense of shock and awe. The Girl who played with Fire left me wanting more. After reading the first two books I saw the Swedish movies with english subtitles. They did great justice to the books and sanitized them a bit to reduce the shock factor. I was not disappointed by this movie and was especially happy with the English dubbing that relieved me of the distraction of reading subtitles. Action, adventure, intrigue, government conspiracies, suspense, well developed characters, great plot.....it was an excellent movie and the 2 1/2 hours flew by. My only regret is that Stieg Larsson died before completing the 10 book series he had planned. I have heard that there is a fourth book and I really hope this is true. I need another Lizbeth and Bloomquist fix.

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I just watched this movie and this movie blew me away with its faithful and suspenseful adaptation of the last novel in Stieg Larsson's Trilogy. Noomi Rapace is simply riveting and outstanding in her definitive portrayal of Lisbeth Salander -there's no way a remake can match her searing & intense performance. Lisbeth Salander is confined to her hospital room or cell in the first part of the movie -she does not express herself verbally but by the way she looks at people. Lisbeth Salander is a very interesting character whom the audience roots for because she is an extremely capable young woman who is a strong fighter and survivor. She cares about and fights for justice to be meted out to those who abuse women. She went through so much crap and mistreatment at the hands of authority figures in her life, but she is able to overcome all these difficulties due to her intelligence, resourcefulness, and capabilities. We come to understand her antisocial behavior. In this film, we get to see more of a glimpse into the relationships that Lisbeth develops with those people who come to her aid and who genuinely care about her well-being. This movie is appealing because it talks about healing from abuse and oppression and the fight for seeing justice being carried out.

Daniel Alfredson did a great job of faithfully adapting the book to film. Even though I knew the outcome by reading the novel, I was riveted to the screen; this movie was very suspenseful and dramatic. A lot of things in the book are portrayed and explained - more details of Lisbeth's ordeal at age 12 in the St. Stephen's Psychiatric Ward under the care of Peter Teleborian, what happens to Lisbeth as she's recovering from the wounds she suffered in "The Girl Who Played with Fire", Mikhel Blomkvist's (and the staff at Millennium) effort to publish Lisbeth's side of the story, what happens to Zalachenko/ Zalachenko's ties to the section in the Swedish government and their effort to bring down Lisbeth, a glimpse of the key people that come to Lisbeth's aid, the pivotal courtroom trial where Giannini (Mikhel's sister) ably defends Lisbeth, and what happens to Lisbeth's brother. Suffice it to say, that this film, like the book, ties up all the loose ends of the Trilogy into a very satisfying conclusion.

The section in the book which I wanted to see the most portrayed in the film was the dramatic courtroom trial -the book devotes several chapters in great detail to this trial and the film does a great job of portraying the essential aspects of the trial and its outcome.

I felt this third part of the Trilogy was just as good if not better than the first one, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. You'll watch this movie and cheer. Very satisfying and highly recommended!

DVD Features:

Sadly, the DVD features are meager. The only bonus features are the English language dub track and a theatrical trailer, nothing else. I wished there were featurettes and commentary to the movie, but there are none.

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TO BE BRIEF : IF YOU'VE FOLLOWED THE FIRST TWO MOVIES OR HAVE READ ALL THREE BOOKS, THIS THIRD AND FINAL MOVIE WILL LEAVE YOU VERY SATISFIED.

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