The girl who played with fire

The Girl Who Played With Fire 
Release date: 27 Aug
Director: Daniel Alfredson. 
Starring: Noomi Rapace, Michael Nyqvist, Lena Endre
Rated: 15

The sequel to the brilliant Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, this Swedish film continues the story of hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) and journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), as they delve into an the criminal underworld, uncovering a sex trafficking ring and a trail of murder along the way. This, the second of Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy books, sees the story begin to focus more on the intriguing character of Salander, a girl with a mysterious and troubling past. 

Salander is wonderfully and sensitively played by Rapace, who is undoubtedly a major talent. However, she is an extraordinary splash of brilliance in an otherwise rather un-extraordinary film. While undoubtedly the success if the book it is based on proves the story works in a literary format, unfortunately here, the pacing and energy of the film feels lacklustre. The raw edge and depth of the first film that made it such a huge critical success, here is softened and simplified. One potentially interesting thread about the sex trafficking industry is frustratingly reduced to being a sideline issue. There is little character development - if you have not seen the previous film, you would find it difficult to care for the people involved. 
Some of the film's later revelations are poorly handled, feeling cliched and, with one twist in particular, fairly inexplicable. 

Compared to the excellent first film, this is disappointing, being essentially reduced to an adequate crime thriller. Despite this, there is enough both to keep the viewer engaged, and to build anticipation for the third of the trilogy being released later this year. 

Content advisory: One particularly violent scene and a fairly graphic sex scene, as well as references to a rape. 

Rating: 5/10