Rapace continues her excellent performance. Meanwhile, the homicidal Niedermann (Micke Spreitz), Salander's half-brother, is on a killing spree. Blomkvist has to find the evidence as Lisbeth is put on trial for attempted murder. Too many movers and shakers would be harmed if proof ever leaked of their trafficking in girls. They also want to stop Blomkvist and his team of journalists. Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) and Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace).Īs Blomkvist tries to find proof of a government conspiracy that sent Salander to a psychiatric hospital when she was 12 to cover up Zalachenko's existence, those in power try to have Lisbeth put away for good or, killed. Lisbeth seriously wounded, but didn't kill, Zalachenko with an axe. Lisbeth is being whisked via a helicopter to a hospital after being shot in the head by her father, Alexander Zalachenko (Georgi Staykov), a former Soviet spy turned sex trafficker with powerful friends in the upper echelons of Swedish government. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest picks up immediately after The Girl Who Played With Fire. The chemistry is no less charged in The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest even thought the two share little screen time and Lisbeth is confined to her hospital room for a good portion. The movies work mainly because the superb performances by the leads-Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander and Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomkvist. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is 576 pages it would have been a stronger novel it had been 450 pages.Īt 2 hours, 28 minutes, the film The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is still a bit long, but the plot holds up so well that it moves briskly, even with English subtitles. Mainly because each of Larsson's novels could have used a good editor. But each of the movies has achieved this. It's not often that the movie version is equal to, or in some cases, better than the novels. It also follows the standards set by the other movies in this series-taking a brilliant, yet flabby novel, paring it down to a tight, brisk-paced film that captures the nuances and spirit of Larsson’s trilogy. The film version of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, directed by Daniel Alfredson, has just been released in American movie houses. If Stieg Larsson had lived, who knows which direction his novels about punk hacker Lisbeth Salander and journalist Mikael Blomkvist would take.Ĭertainly the late Swedish author left a magnificent legacy in his three novels, which have been recreated, as faithfully as possible, in three outstanding movies. The Girls Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (2009, Sweden)

With the final film in the Millenium Trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, just hitting theaters in the U.S., Mystery Scene looks back at our ongoing series commentary of the Swedish films.

The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson