La ragazza che giocava con il fuoco

This is the Swedish-language film adaptation of the second of the three "Millennium" crime novels by the Swedish journalist Stieg Larsson and it's really essential that one sees "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" first because vital themes are continued. Most middle segments of trilogies lack the bright originality of the first and the satisfying denouement of the last, but this one will certainly hold your attention until the girl kicks the hornet's nest.

In this central segment, Lisbeth Salander (the mesmerising Noomi Rapace) is much more central to the narrative and indeed she and investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) are only physically together for moments, although often in electronic communication and always in emotional connection.

The criminality being investigated by the "Millennium" team is more woman-hating in the form of sex trafficking and again the plot contains some surprises but this time the villains are reminiscent of Bond baddies like Blofeld and Jaws. The violence is not quite as stomach-churning as in the first episode, yet there's still plenty of bone-crunching, blood-splattering action. Lisbeth here is the most death-defying female avenger since The Bride in "Kill Bill Part 2".

This follow-up installment by director Daniel Alfredson is a decent mystery thriller with expected action scenes and a string of plot points to keep your interest going. It provides more background information about our tenacious heroine Lisbeth's childhood and her legal guardians, mysterious police reports, and her couple of singularly close friends (Miriam and Paolo, both happened to also know kick-boxing and boxing). Of course, there is Millennium key journalist, Micke Blomkvist and his fellow investigative reporters, and most of the storyline we're following thread after thread, hoping (as everyone in the movie does) to get closer to Lisbeth. From the audience point of view, we get to see her, alright, tagging along with her varying guises to avert danger too close for comfort. She, too, wanted to get to the bottom of the alleged murders that were conveniently linked to her name. The whole movie feels like an expanded "Wallender" episode from the Swedish police-detective TV mystery series.*

"The Girl Who Played With Fire" gave us seemingly straightforward 'facts' as the multiple characters uncover - likened to a 'treasure hunt' (or musical chairs, if you so inclined from the number game of the targets by the villains) vs. providing dramatic highs and penetrating clues, suspenseful and emotional exciting turns as in "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," when we followed Lisbeth and Micke on their investigative furtive trails and cerebral deductions. What Danish director Niels Arden Oplev gave us in the first installment can very well stand on its own as a suspense dramatic thriller (which was true to the original Swedish title "Men Who Hate Women"). It's an excellent whodunit - quality entertainment, moving and satisfying wrap-up to the point of tear-jerker, in spite of some plot-required gritty (raw, not for the squeamish) scenes, which were actual arcs for the next two installments to lean on and refer to. Yes, I recall those particular cited scenes in "The Girl Who Played With Fire" when replayed and enhanced our empathy with Lisbeth's character. What this second installment did give us is preparing for the next and final movie in pursuit of Lisbeth's truth along with Micke staunchly standing up for her - so I kinda read the reviews already on IMDb for "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest". Truly anticipate for the wide release of the 'Part 2' of the second installment and getting to the nitty-gritty rhyme and reason of our heroine Lisbeth and hope for the very best for her.

Do see "The Girl With Dragon Tattoo" if you haven't experience it yet. Yes, mind you, there are NFE (not for everyone) scenes, but they are necessary to the understanding of the heroine, Lisbeth Salander, and set up for the next two movies that follow in this worthwhile mystery trilogy from Sweden. Subtitles in English.

* "Wallender" is a popular Swedish detective mystery TV series I was lucky to catch now and then on KCSM (in Bay Area, California) on their 'International Mystery Monday nights' at 10 PM. They are usually intense, violent crime scenes without apology, political story lines, tons of threads (or red-herrings) that compel you to stay through till the end of the 90-minute episode. There's also a British "Wallender" mystery series based on the same Swedish police-detective Kurt Wallender, played by Kenneth Branagh (who's an executive producer for the program).

If you have a chance to catch the German-Austrian production of "Tatort: Crime Scene" - that's a favorite international mystery I highly recommend. Every TV episode is intelligently written and delivered, with crime scenes usually suggestive or chilling effects off-screen, and simply loved the pair of investigators Max Ballauf and Freddy Schenk (detective partners brilliantly played by Klaus J. Behrendt and Dietmar Bär - one's kinda skinny, the other's kindly plump). If good old-fashioned mystery style is your cup of tea, try "Maigret" the French, pipe piping burly of an endearing Parisian Inspector, impeccably portrayed by Bruno Crémer, who solves murderous puzzles ever so facile. Great sets, costumes and befitting music as we accompany Maigret, unhurriedly sauntering on police business, visiting the rural provinces of French locales.

The dragon's taken to the sky, but this time it just fails to fly, not a patch on what had gone before and doesn't leave you wanting more, one or two distinct plot twists, though the vessel clearly starts to list and the flames are flickering to low and just about to lose their glow.

I decided to go all-out and give myself the full Millennium experience by watching the TV miniseries (9 hours in total) over the space of three nights. As a result, these reviews are of the extended, three-hour editions of each film rather than the condensed, theatrical two-hour versions.

THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE is a highly effective sequel that avoids the usual 'second film in a trilogy' syndrome. It's full of action and intriguing plot twists, and it takes hold of the original's storyline and builds and expands on it in a decent way.

I wouldn't say it's better than the first film - it lacks the novelty of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, and it's very slightly less emotionally fulfilling - but it's nevertheless a superior piece of filmmaking. Bring on the third!

In Stockholm, the young journalist Dag Svensson (Hans-Christian Thulin) offers the thesis of his fiancée Mia Bergman (Jennie Silfverhjelm) about trafficking and prostitution in Sweden to the editor of the Millennium magazine Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist). The couple is temporarily contracted by the magazine to expose the corruption of prominent persons of the Swedish society. Meanwhile, the computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) returns to Stockholm and breaks in the apartment of her guardian, the lawyer Nils Bjurman (Peter Andersson), seeking her reports and uses his revolver to threaten her guardian. When Dag, Mia and Bjurman are found murdered and the weapon with Lisbeth's fingerprints in the crime scene, she becomes the prime-suspect and is accused of the three murders. However, Mikael does not believe that Lisbeth is guilty and investigates the "johns" of the thesis expecting to find the killer. Meanwhile Lisbeth researches the documents expecting to find the culprit and discloses hidden secrets about her father.

"Flickan Som Lekte Med Elden" a.k.a. "The Girl Who Played with Fire" is another engaging thriller based on the Stieg Larsson's novel. I have just seen this film on an imported DVD and it is impressive the number of characters perfectly developed in the concise screenplay and 129 minutes running time. The sharp direction of Daniel Alfredson succeeds, giving the adequate pace to the film. The tough Lisbeth Salander and the wise journalist Mikael Blomkvist are among my favorite characters of action movies. The performances are excellent and Ms. Lena Endre is an impressively beautiful lady. The greatest flaw in the plot is the great number of gun shots in Zala's farm and no response from the neighbors. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Menina que Brincava com Fogo" ("The Girl Who Played with Fire")

Note: On 15 Jul 2018 I saw this film again.