Review of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (2009) by G. Brandon H — 02 Apr 2011

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest picks up right where the second film, The Girl Who Played With Fire, left off. Pierced and tattooed hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) lies brutally injured with a gunshot wound to the head. Now in police custody recuperating in intensive care at a Swedish hospital, Lisbeth finds herself fighting for her life in every conceivable way.

The corrupt forces who wronged her seek to discredit if not outright destroy her, so vengeful Lisbeth must prove her innocence and expose those institutions who have committed so many heinous crimes against her and others. Once again, Lisbeth receives aid from crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), a former lover who still cares for her despite also being involved with his magazine's editor (Erika Berger).

I found the second entry far more complex and emotionally involving than the more Hollywood-friendly first film, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. But Hornet's Nest proves that even foreign trilogies are not immune to the curse of the disappointing third film. It never quite provides the audience with a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy-spanning relationship between Lisbeth and Mikael, nor does it introduce villains as creepy as those in the second film. Indeed, it uses the same father-son bad guy team here, but to a lesser effect (and screen time).

This sequel has it's rousing moments, such as Lisbeth's climactic battle with one of the villains or the gunfight at a cafe, but you must endure long stretches of redundant plot recapping in order to get them. Rapace and Nyqvist are still fun to watch, but they seem less sure of what they're supposed to do here than they did in the first two films.

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest isn't a complete misfire, but it's definitely a missed opportunity given how engrossing the first two Millennium films are. It's easy to frown on Hollywood remakes or foreign films straying too far from the originals, but this might be the one where Tinseltown could actually improve upon it.