The Girl who played with Fire (3½ Stars)

This is the second part of the Millennium Trilogy. I reviewed the first part last month. It takes place slightly more than a year after the end of the last film. The Millennium magazine is continuing successfully under Mikael Blomqvist and his team. Lisbeth is still abroad. A junior reporter is almost finished with an investigation on the kidnapping and trafficking of young women from former Soviet Union states to Sweden to work as prostitutes. The report will be a big scandal, since he has uncovered that the trafficking has been sanctioned by top Swedish politicians, judges and police. In one of the coincidences so common in films, Lisbeth chooses this time to return to Stockholm. The reporter and his girlfriend are murdered, and Lisbeth is framed.

In the first half of the film the emphasis is on Mikael's investigations into the sex-trafficking. Lisbeth is in the background since she has gone into hiding. As the film progresses the emphasis is taken off the sex-trafficking, and the film concentrates on Lisbeth. We see that she has a surprising connection to the trafficking.

I don't doubt that this is a good film, but somehow it fails to grip me. Today I watched and enjoyed it, but I can't see myself watching it again. It's difficult to say why. Maybe it's the gritty realism of the film. There is no fantasy element or exaggerated action. It's all very down to Earth.

Here are two film trailers. If you watch them both you'll think they're for two different films. The first trailer is the original Swedish trailer with subtitles. In my opinion it gives a good impression of the film. The second trailer is made in America and shows scenes out of context to make it look like an action film. Now do you see what I mean by good and bad trailers?