Directed by
Daniel Alfredson
142 minutes
Rated MA
Reviewed by
Sharon Hurst
The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest
Synopsis: Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) wakes in hospital recovering from a bullet to the brain. Her father, who she has attacked with an axe, is in the next room. Police await her recovery to instigate a murder trial aimed to put her back into an insane hospital. Meantime, journalist Micke Blomqvist (Michael Niqvist) seeks, as ever, to prove Salander’s innocence, while at the same time attempting to unravel a dastardly conspiracy which has wrecked her life, along with a cover-up by the highest levels of corrupt Swedish organisations allied with the government.Concluding the monumentally popular so-called Millennium trilogy, the third in the saga tackles what is possibly the most difficult to follow of the three books. Fortunately the film has managed to pull out the most salient plot points and characters and do away with the infuriating references to places and convolutedly-named characters that populate the book. This makes the film a reasonably taut thriller, with several very tense scenes. The opening scenes are all go as Salander and her father are rushed to hospital, blood dominates, and Salander’s half brother takes out two police officers, all within the film’s opening couple of minutes. For anyone who has missed the first two movies, smart use of flashback is made, sufficient to allow non-cognoscenti to play catch up.
On the one hand Alfredson directs the film in a very non-sensationalistic manner. This makes it extremely realistic; the main characters are not all gung-ho heroes tackling baddies in the American style. They feel the fear of the threats they are under and respond accordingly. However the very matter-of-fact style, especially visually, makes it also feel a little like a BBC TV production. Much of Salander’s time is spent semi-mute in a hospital bed, and the rest in a courtroom where she refuses to say much until the very end. This also makes her a comparatively passive heroine in this film compared to the previous two. But that said, there is such a charisma about her character, mesmerizingly portrayed by Rapace, and built up by the first two films, that we find ourselves going along with it and feeling the tension anyway, so engaged are we with the hope for a successful outcome for this fabulously unusual feminist woman.
Nyqvist again brings gravitas and calm likeability to Blomqvist, while Lena Endre is impressive as Erika Berger, editor of Millennium magazine, and Micke’s sometimes lover. Also notable are Annika Hallin as Anika Giannini, sister to Micke, but also a lawyer representing Salander, along with Andres Ahlbom as the creepy Dr Teleborian, responsible for years of trauma in Salander’s young life. Smaller roles all seem to blend into one – the officials of the secret organisation were like faceless men to me.
As mentioned in my reviews of the previous two films, the real strengths of these three films are the women – indomitable female characters of intelligence and bravery, who won’t be defeated by the many nasty men around them. And complementing them all is the wonderful Blomqvist, a male beacon of rationality, kindness and moral integrity.
So while this final part of the trilogy may not be a mega-blockbuster, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest is intelligently well-handled, if a trifle underwhelming at times.
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