Review of The Girl Who Played With Fire

I have seen the first in the this trilogy and I must say that the first in the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy was much better than the second film. I will be writing a subsequent blog post comparing and contrasting all three films. Yet, this blog is about the second in the trilogy, the Girl Who Played With Fire.

First of all let me say how much I like the style of these films. I really like to cyber-punk style of each film. It gives the films a post-modern style that is copied, but never repeated by any other film. Yet this second installment leaves viewers wanting more. It is not suspenseful, even when Lisbeth is buried alive, you know she's going to win, somehow. All that is obvious from the first movie. Yet the plot twists and turns are entertaining. It is a good film, but not as great as the first one.

Lesbian sex scenes aside, this film could of used some more action. Noomi Rapace doesn't talk so much. The narrative is interesting, but the degenerates into a James Bondesque film when Noomi's character is revealed to have the roots of an ex-KGB officer. No wonder why she is so elusive and consequential. She is clearly the hero in a perverted, white-male dominated world. She works against the male dominated world to overthrow all of the power structures that are so firmly in place to keep her down. That is the most interesting part of the film. How she gets revenge against her rapist social work, her father, and the system that does nothing to help her, only lets her be abused and almost killed.

The proto-feminist narrative is the best thing about this film. A woman, odds stacked against her finds a way to come out on top against her enemies who seem to have every advantage against her. She exposes the underworld, corruption in the government, and the keystone cops who are too slow or incompetent to solve a setup against her. Yet, the film comes off as too predictable. Even as she is shot several times, you know she is going to triumph. Perhaps it isn't inevitable, there is some doubt, but, alas, how can you kill of the main protagonist? Maybe the ending of this film was spoiled by the fact that I knew there was a third installment?

Anyway, this film doesn't stack up to the suspense and thrilling conclusion of its predecessor. The ending is all too obvious and the lead up isn't climatic at all.