It's difficult to remember the last time I enjoyed watching a movie series this much. Although the depth and breadth of emotional darkness and cruelty is not as intense and pervasive as it was in DRAGON TATTOO, THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE still provides more than adequate thrills and entertainment, as "the plot thickens", to dust off the old cliché, and the audience is rewarded with an even closer look at the background of hacker/'researcher' extraordinaire Lisbeth Salander.
If Part One was all about helping a client of Mikael Blomqvist's (Michael Nyqvist) battle the ghosts and demons haunting his family, within the mystery of a decades-old, unsolved murder, then FIRE reveals that Lisabeth (Noomi Rapace, as great in this as she was in the previous film) has enough skeletons in her own closet to populate a couple of dozen families' notorious pasts.
Living a life of luxury abroad, thanks to well-deserved if ill-gotten gains from the previous adventure, Lisbeth is still haunted by vivid memories of the brutal assault perpetrated on her by the odious "administrator" of her legal guardianship, Nils Bjurman (Peter Andersson, so magnificently hissable, you want to spritz your screen with Lysol whenever he appears.) Although the revenge on her serial rapist was more than adequate, Lisbeth feels it's worth the risk to return to Sweden, and make sure the old bastard is holding up his end of their "bargain."
And, of course, her efforts will not only find her framed for three murders, but once again teamed with her friend/sometime lover "Micke", her lesbian girlfriend, Miriam Wu (Yasmine Garbi), and the writing team at "Millennium Magazine", whose current expose on human trafficking and the sex trade ties into Lisbeth's turbulent past more than she could have ever realized.
The point has been made that many of the plot points in the two movies are not exactly original, having much in common with many other great mysteries, but the same can be said for other admirable thrillers as well, including the Bourne and Jack Ryan series. But the craft is not just in the story, but how it is told, and though FIRE'S director, Daniel Alfredson, does't bring the same qualities to the table as his predecessor, Niels Arden Oplev, he still does a more than serviceable job of staying true to the spirit of the series.
And it's to his credit, as well as that of the screenwriters and of Rapace and Nyqvist, that the chemistry and the bond between Micke and Lisbeth is as strong as ever this time around, even though they are not physically connected until almost the end of the movie.
Thanks to FIRE, I look forward to reading the Larsson novels now more than ever, and REALLY anticipate seeing the third and final chapter in this exciting series.
If Part One was all about helping a client of Mikael Blomqvist's (Michael Nyqvist) battle the ghosts and demons haunting his family, within the mystery of a decades-old, unsolved murder, then FIRE reveals that Lisabeth (Noomi Rapace, as great in this as she was in the previous film) has enough skeletons in her own closet to populate a couple of dozen families' notorious pasts.
Living a life of luxury abroad, thanks to well-deserved if ill-gotten gains from the previous adventure, Lisbeth is still haunted by vivid memories of the brutal assault perpetrated on her by the odious "administrator" of her legal guardianship, Nils Bjurman (Peter Andersson, so magnificently hissable, you want to spritz your screen with Lysol whenever he appears.) Although the revenge on her serial rapist was more than adequate, Lisbeth feels it's worth the risk to return to Sweden, and make sure the old bastard is holding up his end of their "bargain."
And, of course, her efforts will not only find her framed for three murders, but once again teamed with her friend/sometime lover "Micke", her lesbian girlfriend, Miriam Wu (Yasmine Garbi), and the writing team at "Millennium Magazine", whose current expose on human trafficking and the sex trade ties into Lisbeth's turbulent past more than she could have ever realized.
The point has been made that many of the plot points in the two movies are not exactly original, having much in common with many other great mysteries, but the same can be said for other admirable thrillers as well, including the Bourne and Jack Ryan series. But the craft is not just in the story, but how it is told, and though FIRE'S director, Daniel Alfredson, does't bring the same qualities to the table as his predecessor, Niels Arden Oplev, he still does a more than serviceable job of staying true to the spirit of the series.
And it's to his credit, as well as that of the screenwriters and of Rapace and Nyqvist, that the chemistry and the bond between Micke and Lisbeth is as strong as ever this time around, even though they are not physically connected until almost the end of the movie.
Thanks to FIRE, I look forward to reading the Larsson novels now more than ever, and REALLY anticipate seeing the third and final chapter in this exciting series.