Quickcard Review
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
Directed by: Daniel Alfredson Cast: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Lena Endre Running Time: 2 hrs 28 mins Rating: R Release Date: November 19, 2010 (limited)
PLOT: From the third book in the popular Millennium series by author Stieg Larsson, Lisbeth (Rapace) is recovering from her injuries in a hospital. Mikael (Nyqvist) is trying to keep her out of a mental institution.
WHO'S IT FOR? Only those who have read the books or loved both films. Whatever your hopes are for this final chapter, lower your expectations.
SCORECARD (0-10)
OVERALL
The action ... sorry, the movie picks up right where we left off. I can't say action because that's the most obvious element missing from this final chapter. Thrills and chills are also hard to come by.
Lisbeth is one of the toughest, coolest female characters to hit the screen and now we are stuck watching her recover in a hospital. Her half brother Ronald Niedermann (Micke Spreitz) spends close to the entire movie wandering around with no direction, beating on people whenever he has the chance. Not that we actually see the beatings, because again ... no action. The director just doesn't capture much excitement. Meanwhile, Mikael seems to be more of an ass. He's a jerk to everyone he works with, even though they're doing their jobs well.
The story that is supposed to intrigue is that the government consists of many old white men who allowed Lisbeth to be put in a mental institution at the age of 12. Now, in a court of law, it must be proved that this happened. The first hour is forgettable and it takes an hour and a half for the film to give us a nervous moment. Then there's the problem with the court room. We already know most of the details with Lisbeth's life. So it just feels like repeating.
The Millennium Trilogy is reminding me of The Matrix Trilogy.
I thought I knew what this movie world was all about. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is easily the best film of this series. The same could be said with The Matrix. The second film is based largely on setting up the final chapter. Both The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Matrix Reloaded seemed interesting at the time. But with both it was a "wait and see" approach. You needed the third film to completely decide on the second.
I thought the Millennium Trilogy was about an unlikely duo of Lisbeth and Mikael who solve god awful mysteries/crimes together. Nope. It's about Lisbeth being treated absolutely awful and somehow surviving. And oh by the way, the government was involved. We already believe in Lisbeth. We have from the start. So does Mikael. He has from the start. The third film spends almost the entire time attempting to convince the rest of the world that Lisbeth is OK. When that's done, they tack on a little bit of action with a character that feels almost forgotten.
This final conclusion has lost its bite. It will be interesting to see what David Fincher, Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara do with the American remake.
FINAL SCORE: 4/10