Movie Review - 'The Girl Who Played With Fire'

The Girl Who Played With Fire Starring Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist Directed by Daniel Alfredson Rated R

A year after the events of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) and Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyquist) are thrust again into a complicated mystery in The Girl Who Played with Fire. This time around, Salander and Blomkvist don't occupy the screen together, each working their own way to the same conclusion. There is cause to see Dragon Tattoo before watching this, but as part of a trilogy - based on the celebrated books by Stieg Larsson - it's probably a good idea to start from square one. The film concerns itself only fleetingly with its predecessor, establishing the relationship, peculiar as it is, between Salander and Blomkvist. It functions the way a lot of second-parters do, though, as a potential bridge to something else. Obviously, it can't run parallel to the first film or what would be the point? But it also can't show all its cards here or why wait for the third installment? So Larsson and now director Daniel Alfredson keep the irresistible force and the immovable object in neutral corners, with Blomkvist investigating a sex-for-hire ring up close and personal while Salander hides behind the safety of her laptop for as long as she can - ever the hacker - but before too long, events conspire against her and she has to take action. For about the first hour, The Girl Who Played with Fire feels like a movie with no set destination. Although the story advances and the stakes get higher, it suffers a little bit from layering too many unknowns on top of one another. There's a great dissection of mystery building in Stephen King's The Colorado Kid, in which the grizzled old publisher of a small town newspaper explains to his cub reporter that readers can get easily vexed when there's too much left unknown about a case at any one time. So, while Played with Fire keeps moving forward, it may spend too much time adding more mystery without providing enough clues. However, what the first hour-plus does provide us is a deeper understanding of Lisbeth Salander, which is greatly appreciated if you loved the first movie. Most of that is handled without her even being on screen, with Blomkvist peeling back the layers on her past. The last 45 minutes moves very quickly, though, with plot holes being filled rapidly, and principal characters finding themselves flung together in hopes of an exciting climax. It is that, in a more artistic, slower-paced Swedish film sort of way, but it's certainly no Bourne Ultimatum. The sex-for-hire ring has a connection to the past for Lisbeth, and the further the mystery goes, the closer she and Blomkvist get geographically, having been of one mind for quite a while already. Perhaps it's the novelty that's missing, perhaps that most of Lisbeth's story is undertaken when she isn't on screen, perhaps it's a new director, or perhaps it's just hard to follow up such a great story -- whatever it is, The Girl Who Played with Fire does not meet or exceed Dragon Tattoo. It feels, almost exclusively, like a sequel to a very good film. It feels, somewhat disappointingly, like a film that leaves its best stuff hidden until the end, so that the movie after it - the big finish we know is coming - will actually be a big finish. That isn't to say there aren't some very good things about this movie. Nyqvist has more to do, the conclusion is hard to forget, and the story shows how European journalism (at least an idealized one that doesn't even exist in US any longer) has a take-no-prisoners approach and will nail someone's balls to the wall because that's what it's there for. That characteristic is one it shares with the author, Stieg Larsson, a committed activist journalist before writing these books. Ultimately, though, The Girl Who Played with Fire isn't buoyed by those things so much as it is dragged down by the absence of some others. Better luck next time. And last time.

Comments

[P90x extreme home fitness program]

http://www.auto-ok-erlangen.com
http://www.rosetta-stone-shop.org
http://www.itunes-gift-card.org
http://www.auto-ok-erlangen.com
http://www.rosetta-stone-shop.org
http://www.itunes-gift-card.org

[Roger Vivier]

The beautiful curve, the modelling of restoring ancient ways, fine design of bead piece of adornment, all all let Roger Vivier satin high heels with French palace style,
roger vivier pumps they make me think of the movie "the jedi" queen of France after colourful Marie Antoinette of countless delicate dress up, powder blue the naive and exquisite workmanship collocation are together have a noble and pure temperament. Shop popular brands and stores to find roger vivier shoes on sale - all in one place. Create and share looks based on all your favorite styles.Welcome Guest!,roger vivier sale !
Roger Vivier Ballerina Shoes
Roger Vivier Round Toe Shoes
Roger Vivier Sandals