Film Review: The Girl Who Played With Fire

Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy has become a worldwide literary phenomenon. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, a Swedish import (a Hollywood remake with David Fincher is in pre-production), is virtuoso filmmaking - brutal, visceral, extraordinary; it was a very different cinematic experience than anything I've felt during a Hollywood thriller. All three films have been released in Sweden (Dragon Tattoo in theaters, Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest for television), and are quickly being rolled into American cinemas. Dragon Tattoo made nearly $10 million in the U.S. box office, a huge number for a summer foreign film.

This sequel deals, once again, with hacker extraordinaire Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) and superstar journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist). Millennium is working on another controversial magazine issue, this time dealing with the Swedish sex trade. When Salander becomes the suspect for a gruesome triple murder, she becomes deeply involved in the dangerous world surrounding this sex trade conspiracy. Both Salander and Blomkvist focus in on the mysterious Zala; the search for Zala's identity, and his role in the nationwide scandal, brings up frightening memories from Salander's past. The film ends with some shocking reveals and a big cliffhanger, setting up the final chapter of the series.

Played With Fire feels slight in comparison to the brilliance of the first film. Ultimately, the source material isn't nearly as strong as the first novel. This comparison is glaringly evident through some horrendous choices in the screenplay. The foremost transgression is the question of Salander's innocence in the triple murder, which on screen lacks the unbearable tension of the novel; the screenplay leaves absolutely no ambiguity, where the book keeps Salander missing for nearly 200 pages while the police debate what actually happened. Some changes make perfect sense, but many seem awkward and unreasonable (for example, why alter the novel's fantastic warehouse fight sequence?). However, the film's final act does pack the horrific punch that the novel's climax provides. It's possible that the film even slightly improves on some moments during the climax, as the novel occasionally teeters into the overly ridiculous; the movie tones does some of the outrageous elements.

In contrast, Dragon Tattoo made serious changes with central details, but these changes enhanced the film; the taut dramatic arch was intact, and the novel's tone was perfectly transfered. However, as with the first film, casting and acting in the sequel are superb. Rapace delivers another unbelievably searing performance as Salander, committing her ever fiber to transform into one of the greatest literary anti-heroines ever (Rapace won the Swedish equivalent of the Oscar for Dragon Tattoo); Fincher has his work cut out finding a Hollywood actress to match Rapace's intensity. Nyqvist is also wonderful, bringing the low-key intensity of heartfelt Blomkvist to life again.

It's unfortunate that this series started so incredibly (Dragon Tattoo is currently one of my favorite releases of 2010), only to be followed by a film that is disappointing and flat. With Dragon Tattoo clocking in at over two-and-a-half hours, Played With Fire should be longer - the film lacks serious expository material, especially for characters with heightened significance in the sequel. The Girl Who Played With Fire, with a new director and cheaper production for television, feels unimaginative and underwhelming. See The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo on DVD now, and read the blistering Millennium Trilogy. D