In Swedish with English & Chinese Subtitles
Genre: Crime/Mystery/Thriller
Director: Daniel Alfredson
Cast: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Lena Endre, Peter Andersson, Annika Hallin, Per Oscarsson, Jacob Ericksson, Johan Kylén, Tanja Lorentzon, Mirja Turestedt
RunTime: 2 hrs 28 mins
Released By: Encore Films & GV
Rating: NC-16
Official Website: http://www.encorefilms.com/dragontattoo/

Opening Day: 21 October 2010

Synopsis:

The story begins where The Girl Who Played With Fire left off: Lisbeth was buried alive by Zala, Lisbeth’s father, and his accomplice Niedermann. Lisbeth survived and defended herself against Zala with an axe just as he was shooting her in the head. Niedermann escaped when Mikael Blomkvist and inspector Bublanski arrived at the crime scene.

Lisbeth Salander is taken by ambulance to the hospital in Gothenburg. She has a life threatening bullet wound in her head and is rushed straight into surgery. Her father, Zala, is having surgery in the same hospital. They end up in the same unit and Zala is planning to get rid of Lisbeth. She poses a threat both to him and the “The Section”, the secret, illegal group within Säpo, the secret police, responsible for Zala and his protection.

But before he has time to realise his plans he is shot in his hospital room by an apparently confused, old man who then shoots himself. It is evident that someone is trying to silence him and there are powerful forces that want to get rid of Lisbeth as well. And Niedermann is still running free...   

Movie Review:

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest is the final movie in the Girl with Trilogy, adapted from the late Stieg Larsson’s Millenium trilogy of books. Being the closing movie to the trilogy, the movie shoulders an enormous weight having to live up to its first two predecessors. Thankfully, thanks to this movie, the trilogy does not really end on a sour note. In fact, having seen the trilogy of movies, this reviewer must say that he was not quite sure what to expect having not read the books at all. The first movie, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was an intriguing murder mystery but this was followed up by The Girl who Played with Fire which was almost a paint-by-numbers action flick and now, The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest is a courtroom drama that takes a page out of a great John Grisham story.

The movie opens immediately where Lisbeth Salander was left, bruised and broken after being shot by her father, Zalachenko and buried alive by her half-brother Ronald Niedermann. She has to be hospitalised for her injuries and soon enough, she becomes a nation’s interest when she is accused of three murders from the previous movie, which she had obviously not committed. This sets in motion the revelation of new characters who do not want certain secrets to be unveiled with Zalachenko’s public appearance, the man threatening to expose government secrets. Thrown into the mix is of course, Mikael Blomkvist who tries his utmost to ensure that Lisbeth deserves justice. The drama then unfolds with conspiracies and near-killings being thrown into the mix and a gripping turn of events in the courtroom which leaves the viewing experience to be an intriguing one.

Noomi Rapace. She has been rightfully cast in a role of a lifetime and in this movie, she gets her chance to shine especially since she gets a lot of face-time and close ups. It is sheer joy watching her nuanced performance, her little grin upon hearing a piece of positive news to her smirk when she faces her tormentor head on in court. The girl is well on her way to a Hollywood career having being cast in Sherlock Holmes 2. It is a wonder then how the Hollywood remake will fare despite David Fincher being attached to direct. Will Rooney Mara’s star rise when she takes over the role of Lisbeth Salander? Only time will tell.

The movie clocks in at a good two and a half hours but one would not feel the time passing slowly. The gripping drama is well worth the price of admission. If this reviewer has a gripe though, it would be that the movie oddly resembled a cheap courtroom television with its uninspired directing. Nonetheless, regardless of how fanciful or expensive a movie is, a good story still triumphs over everything else.

Movie Rating:

(The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest is a gripping end to the trilogy!)

Review by Mohamad Shaifulbahri