The Girl Who Played with Fire spoiler-free film review
Given how excellent the Swedish film adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was, expectations were naturally high that movie sequel The Girl Who Played with Fire – based of course on the second of Stieg Larsson’s bestselling Millennium Trilogy novels – would be just as electrifying. Unfortunately though, while the film entertains, it’s impossible to disregard its many flaws, and in the end it’s just not as good as the first film in the series.
Part of the problem with The Girl Who Played with Fire is the lack of a truly engaging mystery at its core. Sure there are secrets to unearth but they are nowhere near as intriguing as the 40 year old disappearance – linked to Nazism, incest, serial killing and misogyny – that drove the narrative in Dragon Tattoo.
This time around supremely resourceful goth hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) finds herself the centre of unwanted media and police attention when she is framed for three murders. Lisbeth’s former partner and lover, journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) believes in her innocence but if he’s going to clear her name, he’ll have to do it solo since reclusive Lisbeth has gone into hiding while she too tries to find the real perpetrators.
The thing is, the narrative of The Girl Who Played with Fire ends up feeling like a mash-up of Dan Brown, James Bond, a soap opera and even a little bit of Kill Bill Vol. 2. The filmmakers seem intent on straining credibility at every point, with an endless series of convoluted coincidences and a cast of characters who are evidently as indestructible as comic book superheroes. Sex trafficking plays an important role in the plot of The Girl Who Played with Fire but it is disappointingly never explored to the same graphic degree that women abuse was in the first film. I’d even go so far as to say that 2008 thriller Taken, with Liam Neeson, examined the topic in much more impactful, uncomfortable and memorable way.
It may sound like I’m slamming The Girl Who Played with Fire, but the film does still have several positives in its favour. These include the excellent performances of the leads, at least two electrifying sequences in which Lisbeth uses her creativity and quick-wittedness to overcome much more powerful foes, and the movie’s overall increased focus on the character of Lisbeth, burrowing further into the reasons for her warped, distrustful psychology and socially dysfunctional behaviour.
It’s also worth mentioning that the film doesn’t exclude people who haven’t read the novel on which it is based (myself included). It remains pretty easy to follow, even if I suspect viewers who haven’t watched the big screen adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo may struggle if they were to suddenly drop into the movie series at this point.
All this said, the film’s biggest flaw is its inexcusably flat ending, which offers nothing in the way of gratifying resolution for the audience. Presumably events will be resolved in the final film, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest – releasing in South Africa next month – but as a standalone movie experience, The Girl Who Played with Fire is, in the end, something of a disappointment.
Part of the problem with The Girl Who Played with Fire is the lack of a truly engaging mystery at its core. Sure there are secrets to unearth but they are nowhere near as intriguing as the 40 year old disappearance – linked to Nazism, incest, serial killing and misogyny – that drove the narrative in Dragon Tattoo.
This time around supremely resourceful goth hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) finds herself the centre of unwanted media and police attention when she is framed for three murders. Lisbeth’s former partner and lover, journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) believes in her innocence but if he’s going to clear her name, he’ll have to do it solo since reclusive Lisbeth has gone into hiding while she too tries to find the real perpetrators.
The thing is, the narrative of The Girl Who Played with Fire ends up feeling like a mash-up of Dan Brown, James Bond, a soap opera and even a little bit of Kill Bill Vol. 2. The filmmakers seem intent on straining credibility at every point, with an endless series of convoluted coincidences and a cast of characters who are evidently as indestructible as comic book superheroes. Sex trafficking plays an important role in the plot of The Girl Who Played with Fire but it is disappointingly never explored to the same graphic degree that women abuse was in the first film. I’d even go so far as to say that 2008 thriller Taken, with Liam Neeson, examined the topic in much more impactful, uncomfortable and memorable way.
It may sound like I’m slamming The Girl Who Played with Fire, but the film does still have several positives in its favour. These include the excellent performances of the leads, at least two electrifying sequences in which Lisbeth uses her creativity and quick-wittedness to overcome much more powerful foes, and the movie’s overall increased focus on the character of Lisbeth, burrowing further into the reasons for her warped, distrustful psychology and socially dysfunctional behaviour.
It’s also worth mentioning that the film doesn’t exclude people who haven’t read the novel on which it is based (myself included). It remains pretty easy to follow, even if I suspect viewers who haven’t watched the big screen adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo may struggle if they were to suddenly drop into the movie series at this point.
All this said, the film’s biggest flaw is its inexcusably flat ending, which offers nothing in the way of gratifying resolution for the audience. Presumably events will be resolved in the final film, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest – releasing in South Africa next month – but as a standalone movie experience, The Girl Who Played with Fire is, in the end, something of a disappointment.
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