The Girl Who Played With Fire

Title: Girl who Played with Fire
Director: Daniel Alfredson
Cast: Noomi Rapace plays Lisbeth Salander (of dragon tattoo fame) and Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomkvist
Language: Swedish
Release Date: September 2009 (in Denmark) and 2010 in US

Should you see it? I have to say, I was very disappointed in this 2nd in a 3 part series. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was definitely much better. There were the requisite violence and sex scenes. But they seemed formulaic to me. Salander's character was not really developed nor was her relationship with Mickael ever made clear. I know when things aren't going well for me when I catch myself looking at my watch. Film runs just over 2 hours.

In A Nutshell: Stieg Larsson, the ultra-successful Swedish mystery writer (who died a few years ago), tries to shock you wish extremes. Salander--a diminutive figure dressed as a Goth--is on a search for what turns out to be her long lost father. Blomkvist--a writer who works for Millenium Magazine--follows up on the violent killing of a freelance writer and his PhD girlfriend. Both were investigating the sex trade business and apparently were killed for it. Salander and Blomkvist seem to go their separate ways as they try to solve the mystery.

I felt the film had many gratuitous scenes that really didn't make sense in terms of the story. Rather it seemed as though the film was building on the reputation of the first in the series and didn't do much to make the character development or plot very meaningful.

I would save my money and see something else.