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The Girl Who Played with Fire sees the return of Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace), and she appears to have gone through some changes. The ‘super-goth’ exterior has been toned down a little, but The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is very much still there.
In this middle installment of the trilogy we witness events from Lisbeth’s earlier life that are brought crashing into her present. She is distanced from Blomkvist in this ‘episode’ of the story, though the pair continue to work together trying to pull Lisbeth out of a bad situation. The action takes place over the background of a sex trafficking ring, the story behind which isn’t really explored, as Lisbeth is very much the centre of attention in this film. This is quite justifiable however, as Rapace’s performance is once again mind-bogglingly good. Her presence on screen and her very believable portrayal of a seriously complex character are alone reason enough to see this film. Add to this some very clever cinematography and some rather haunting parallels with Kill Bill Part II and you’ve got a good way to kill some time.
However, if you are expecting the tightly wound, high adrenaline, high tension feel of Niels Arden Oplev’s first instalment, you’ll be a little disappointed. This film, whilst still very enjoyable, makes a number of gaffes including the completely unwarranted, rushed and ill-advised sex scene. It also somehow manages to drag while at the same time feeling hurried and glossing over interesting potential moments for character development. Again, this is more of an ‘episode’, and one that doesn’t really benefit from the big screen treatment. What is noticeable is how well the first film influences the second – for instance when Lisbeth enters Bjurman’s apartment, the tension does run high.
So is it worth spending money on? If you were a fan of the first film, then you should enjoy this too, and certainly the performances are worth seeing. However, The Girl Who Played With Fire does suffer from feeling like the slightly dull filling in what could have otherwise been a fantastic theatrical sandwich.
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