Millénium 3 : La Reine dans le palais des courants d'air

Excellent! In my opinion, maybe the best of the three installments of the 'Millenium' trilogy. I tend to disagree with Mr. Berardinelli's review in calling this 'an abject failure as a stand-alone motion picture', simply because it was never supposed to be a stand-alone motion picture. In Sweden, this was just part 5 and 6 of a TV Miniseries, and for being that it is excellent! My compliments to the Director, the writer and the entire cast.

Like Ebert, I also hope they manage to complete the 2 unfinished scripts by Stieg Larsson thus giving us parts 4 and 5 of this Saga. I will definitely be looking forward to it, both as books and movies!

"The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" ends the Millennium Trilogy from Swedish television.

Taking up where the second chapter left off, Lisbeth Salandar (Noomi Rapace) is in the hospital, recovering from her wounds. She's also under arrest. Her father, Alexander Zalachenko, survived and is in the same hospital. There is a move afoot to charge her with attempted murder but also to have her committed to a mental institution again.

Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) is devoting a special issue of Millennium to getting justice for Lisbeth. He soon learns that the people behind attempting to silence Lisbeth will stop at nothing to achieve their goal. Mikael and Lisbeth work separately again to clear her name and keep her from being either imprisoned or committed.

Good ending to this trilogy, as it wraps up the story very nicely. Rapace's magnificent presence and total immersion into the role again dominates, with Nyqvist also excellent as Blomkvist, demonstrating his quiet determination to help Lisbeth.

Despite the pervasive dark atmosphere (which the story demands) and some really major violence in the first episode, which is not my thing, I really am very glad I watched the Swedish version of this trilogy and do not plan on viewing the American version. In fact, I'm not even sure why they're making it, except that no one in Hollywood is interested in doing anything original. The Swedish "The Girl" trio will be hard to beat.

The final instalment in the series and, I have to say it was worth the wait, I watched the two previous instalments and was left with excitement and anticipation for the third. This final instalment did not disappoint it had me gripped from beginning to end with some real tense scenes and excellent dialogue between the characters, interspersed with scenes of chilling realism and tense action. This film sums up for me what Hollywood has lacked for......well years, in that special effects and action sequences although entertaining (barely) do not work unless they actually have a story that is both engrossing and also contains actors that grab you and bring you into the film. Anyway before I get on a rant this film and the whole trilogy are worth watching and I can't recommend them enough.

The final film in the Millennium Trilogy and what a great film is it, right up there with it's precursors.

We learn even more about Lisbeth's, hidden organisations, and how everything is linked. The pieces of the puzzle come together, and I felt the film explained almost everything pretty cleverly, though this does involve some concentration from the viewer, because some of the links are not emphasised that well and maybe can be missed.

This is more similar to the first one, in the style of directing and also the ruthless reporting is back. Less action than the first, but no less enthralling for it. There is a lot of tension in this movie, and it made for compulsive viewing.

These three films have turned me more onto more modern Swedish Cinema. I was always a fan of Bergman and I have seen a few movies over the last few years from there, but this makes me want to keep a closer eye on the Swedish Film Making Industry. Great success guys, I look forward to seeing much more cinema from Sweden. Now I will read the books.

9/10 Excellent

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.

Let's just say that THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST doesn't disappoint. It finishes off the Millennium trilogy in an intelligent, emotionally satisfying way, drawing up all the themes and mysteries of the last two films. Great direction, great plotting, great acting, great cinematography...what's not to love?