GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST, THE (aka: LUFTSLOTTET SOM SPRANGDES)
(director: Daniel Alfredson; screenwriter: Ulf Rydberg/based on the novel by ; cinematographer: Peter Mokrosinski; editor: Hakan Karlsson; music: Jacob Groth; cast: (Mikael Blomkvist), (Lisbeth Salander), Georgi Staykov (Alexander Zalachenko), Annika Hallin (Annika Giannini), Per Oscarsson (Holger Palmgren), Lena Endre (Erika Berger), Peter Andersson (Nils Bjurman), Jacob Ericksson (Christer Malm), Sofia Ledarp (Malin Eriksson), Mikael Spreitz (Ronald Niedermann), Georgi Staykov (Alexander Zalachenko), Anders Ahlbom Rosendahl (Dr. Peter Teleborian), Hans Alfredson (Evert Gullberg), Lennart Hjulström (Fredrik Clinton),Aksel Morisse (Dr. Jonasson), Tomas Köhler (Plague), Johan Holmberg (Sandberg); Runtime: 148; MPAA Rating: R; producer: Soren Staermose; Music Box Films; 2009-Sweden/Germany/Denmark-in Swedish with English subtitles)
“Moves along at a brisk pace.“
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A government conspiracy thriller, originally shot for Swedish television, is assertively directed by Swedish filmmaker Daniel Alfredson (“Wolf”/”Tic Tac”/”Straydogs”). Writer Ulf Rydberg based it on the novel by The Girl With the Dragon TattooandThe Girl Who Played With Fire. This last part of the book tensely plays out as a journalistic procedural (instead of a police procedural) in wrapping up all the loose ends; such as, resolving the political thriller part by nabbing the ten secretive elderly government officials operating for the last thirty years as unethical rogue spies, eliminating the two psychopathic villains related to the vic protagonist, exposing again the perversions of a state guardian and the perversions and schemings of the psychiatric head adminstrator (Anders Ahlbom Rosendahl) who both used their power to abuse and wrongly confine their patient, and getting justice for the fierce but abused heroine Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace).
Loner Lisbeth is in critical condition in the hospital intensive care unit with a bullet wound in the head.When she recovers, Lisbeth’s charged with attempting to murder her abusive, corrupt and ruthless Russian defector spy father that no one knows about except the rogue Swedish spies known as The Section. But Lisbeth’s helped by the crusading journalist publisher of the Mikael Blomkvist (), the editor (Lena Endre) and the staff who risk their lives; the publisher’s sister defense lawyer (Annika Hallin), Lisbeth’s hacker friend Plague (Tomas Köhler) and Lisbeth’s caring doctor (Aksel Morisse).
The grim and lurid film shows again the rape of the vulnerable girl by her guardian when she was a youngster and how she was falsely placed in a mental institution in Uppsala by the corrupt administrator so she wouldn’t be a credible witness against her corrupt father and his corrupt political associates, and how she’s now targeted by her crazed evil father (Georgi Staykov), her freakish (no nervous system, means he feels no pain) giant homicidal maniac killer German half-brother (Mikael Spreitz) and the venal corrupt government officials. The popularity of the film is in how audiences relate to this gritty punky small young woman managing to survive her oppressive all-powerful attackers and in the end get her revenge on all these nasty sorts who harmed her.
Though lengthy and adding nothing new to the plot or to the characters from the previous films, it’s well-acted, moves along at a brisk pace, holds your attention with all its lurid storytelling and is entertaining in the most plebeian of ways.
REVIEWED ON 11/20/2010 GRADE: B https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/