The Girl Who Played with Fire

Overview

Bestselling literary heroine Lisbeth Salander may play with fire, but unfortunately the film sequel will leave uninitiated audiences entirely in the dark. Truth be told, few will attempt this Swedish thriller who aren't already familiar with Stieg Larsson's books or the hugely successful first film adaptation The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. But be it the convoluted storyline, the clunky direction or the division of Salander (Noomi Rapace) and Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), The Girl Who Plays With Fire is disappointingly lacklustre.

Looking much more like a stodgy TV crime procedural than a piece of cinema, the story picks up after rogue hacker Salander has been living the high life with her stolen millions. Blomkvist has returned to his newspaper Millennium, and has no contact with Salander save the knowledge that she keeps tabs on his computer. But when both Salander's seedy guardian and Blomkvist's newly hired writer wind up dead, the two set on separate paths to solve the crime and clear Salander's name.

Though Rapace throws herself into another committed performance, much of the spark is lost where she no longer shares scenes with Nyqvist. Combined with dense, overly long scenes and a laborious set up, The Girl Who Played With Fire lacks the tension of the original. Fans of the book will probably revel in the film's attention to detail, but for the rest it will feel like a lot of unnecessary filler.