The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

Whilst it provides a satisfactory sense of closure to the trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is once again hindered by an outrageous frame count and a woeful dialogue-centric opening act. After that though the final two acts flow quite smoothly.

Charged with the murder of her father, defendant and protagonist Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) must appear before a judge to explain her axe-wielding actions at the end of the second film. Should she be incarcerated once again (possibly for the rest of her life) and left to the whims and desires of men with too much power or was she in fact acting in self-defence?

The gratuitous violence and brutality captured on DVD in the first film is once again on display, this time, however, as evidence for the defendant. It always appeared out of place in the first movie, an almost banal and immature attempt to shock the audience. Finally though, it's existence is justified in it's attempt to shock a new audience member, the judge.

Despite changing directors after the first film (Niels Arden Oplev) the pace and delivery has remained stagnant throughout the entire trilogy. There has never been a cinematic feel; even watching tonight I kept thinking this could quite easily have been made for television, albeit after the watershed. Unlike Sweden's recent masterpiece Let the Right One In (2008), director Daniel Alfredson's second attempt at bring the Stieg Larsson's trilogy to screen highlights the much required and refreshingly desired remake currently in production in the States. Not down for release until Boxing Day 2011 I'm hoping Fincher's remake will drastically overhaul Larsson's source material, unlike Matt Reeves' attempts with Let Me In (2010). In this sense it would be nice if the opening credits read "Inspired by..." rather than "Based on..."