The Girl Who Played With Fire

So the boss sent me down to the next instalment of the Millenium Trilogy film adaptations. If you didn’t read my review of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo here is the update. The three films of which this is the second are set in Sweden and the lead Heroine is Called Lisbeth Salander. Her computer hacking skills are only matched in my opinion by her inability to form proper relationships and her computer geek stereo typical introversion. The actress is slim and sexy and altogether too good looking for a computer nerd although she shows of her mentally disturbed edge to the audience with her cold calculating use of a Tazer on mens’ privates and her obvious love of riding motorbikes while wearing her leather jacket and army Boots.

The last time we left Lisbeth we saw her in a sun kissed seafront after she had just picked up a load of money (not hers) and was walking off in to the future a wealthy women. We catch up with her still alone nearly a year later but this time she is sporting a tan and has set up WASP a company (also the name of her computer hacker alias) to manage all her stolen money. Using WASP she has anonymously bought a flat for herself back in Sweden so that she can return there to remind the Lawyer who raped her in the first film, that she is still really angry with him, to continue to write good psychological reports for her and to not remove his “ I’m a rapist” tattoo that she very painfully put on his chest, the last time they met.

Meanwhile Mikael Blomkvist publisher and reporter of Millennium magazine (also the love interest for Lisbeth in the first movie) has Dag a young freelance reporter come to him with a story about sex traffickers and Swedish Officials abusing the underage prostitutes they have trafficked in to Sweden.

Needless to say the officials don’t fancy having their names on the front page of millennium magazine with Dag and his girl being the first casualties of the impending publication. Blomkvist while trying to keep the story going while trying to find out who killed his magazines reporter soon finds that the high tech whiz Lisbeth is being framed for the murder of Dag and his Girl friend. LIsbeth is by now in Sweden and investigating the story herself having hacked in to Blomkvists computer. However her psychological need to avenge the trafficked girls with her own form of justice on the gangster traffickers is soon superseded by her need to find out why the Lead gangster Alexander Zalachenko is out to frame her for the murders and who is torturing her friends to find and then kill her. Throw in to the mix a Giant bloke who can’t feel pain (they call it Congenital Analgesia in the film) who quite literally gives an ex boxer friend of Lisbeth’s a good kicking whilst trying to frame and find Lisbeth. If you’re still keeping up with the twists and turns of the thrilling story your probably still only thirty minutes in to the movie and you have chewed off half the nails on your right hand.

The film itself is fast paced as you can tell from what I’ve said so far. The cinematography is excellent you’ll feel you have a ring side seat to all the action. The character development is clearly fuller in the sequel as is usually the case for sequels and the story is compelling obviously, hell the books were best sellers. At one point you may think it’s been lifted from the Empire Strikes Back, but having said that the film will leave you exhilarated and possibly with the desire to get better anti hacker protection for your computer.

Summary - a great movie that brings to life a brilliant story with excellent cast selection and equally good acting. Look out for some cool biker bikes, Tazer action, girl on girl action (always a plus) and the David and Goliath scene where David literally gets kicked in to a bloody mush.

A must see…………