| The Girl Who Played with Fire | |
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Swedish release poster |
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| Directed by | Daniel Alfredson |
| Produced by | Soren Staermose Jon Mankell |
| Screenplay by | Ulf Ryberg |
| Based on | The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson |
| Starring | Michael Nyqvist Noomi Rapace |
| Music by | Jacob Groth |
| Cinematography | Peter Mokrosinski |
| Editing by | Mattias Morheden |
| Studio | Yellow Bird Films |
| Distributed by | Zodiak Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | 18 September 2009 (Sweden) 9 July 2010 (US) |
| Running time | 129 minutes |
| Country | Sweden |
| Language | Swedish French |
| Box office | $67,126,795[1] |
The Girl Who Played with Fire (Swedish: Flickan som lekte med elden) is a 2009 Swedish thriller film directed by Daniel Alfredson, and the sequel to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by the late Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson, the second in his "Millennium series".
The film follows Lisbeth Salander returning to Sweden after spending a year abroad. Having returned, she falls under suspicion of having committed the murder of a journalist and his girlfriend as well as her guardian Nils Bjurman. Mikael Blomkvist has to do what he can to find her before the authorities do.
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With her new wealth, Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) purchases an apartment in Stockholm. On returning to Sweden, Salander reconnects with Miriam Wu (Yasmine Garbi) and offers her free use of her previous apartment in return for forwarding her mail. Later, Salander confronts her guardian, Nils Bjurman (Peter Andersson) after hacking into his email account and discovering he has an appointment booked with a tattoo removal specialist. Threatening him with his own gun, she warns him not to remove the tattoo that she etched on his stomach as revenge for sexually abusing her, marking him as "a pervert, a rapist and a sadistic pig".
Millennium magazine welcomes Dag Svensson (Hans Christian Thulin), a new journalist who is writing an exposé on prostitution and human trafficking in Sweden. Dag's girlfriend, Mia Bergman, is writing her doctoral thesis on sex trafficking. Dag is nearly finished with the story and is confronting those who will be exposed by the article. Dag and his girlfriend are about to leave on a holiday and asks Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) to come to his apartment and collect some photographs. At the same time Dag also asks Mikael to inquire about someone called "Zala", who may have a connection to his present research. Mikael arrives at their apartment late at night to collect photographs for the article but finds them shot dead. The gun used is tracked to Bjurman, who is also dead. Salander is the prime suspect, as her fingerprints are on the gun.
Bublanski, the police officer leading the investigation, advises Blomkvist that he should stay out of it. Salander tells Blomkvist she did not kill Dag and Mia and that he needs to find the mysterious "Zala".
In an effort to find Salander, Blomkvist contacts her boxing trainer and friend, Paolo Roberto. While he is unaware of Salander's whereabouts, he does know Miriam, who also trained with them, and promises to pay her a visit. Near her apartment, Paolo witnesses Miriam being kidnapped by strongman Niedermann. Paolo follows his car to a deserted barn, where he hears him beat Miriam for information about Salander. Paolo comes in to rescue her but Niedermann incapacitates him. Niedermann sets the barn aflame, believing he has killed Paolo and Miriam, but they have actually secretly escaped.
News breaks of the attack and Paolo gives his account to the police. After Blomkvist leaves information he has discovered about the case on his computer for Salander to hack into and read, she leaves a message to him saying, "Thank you for being my friend". He realizes that she intends to set out alone to find the man who framed her and that she may not survive. A disguised Salander visits Miriam in hospital to apologize for getting her involved. Without giving anything away, Salander confirms the police sketch of Niedermann with Miriam and then disappears. Knowing now that he is Salander's friend, Miriam calls Blomkvist to the hospital to give him keys that Salander dropped accidentally during her visit. Noticing they are for a post office box, Blomkvist is able to access and read Salander's mail and track down her apartment. Meanwhile, Salander continues her efforts to find Niedermann by watching his post office box. She sees someone check the post box and follows him to a small house near Gosseberga.
Researching through the material in her apartment Blomkvist finds the video of Bjurman raping Salander.
In the offices of Millennium magazine, Paolo explains he tracked down Niedermann and learned that he has congenital analgesia: Niedermann is unable to feel pain. They trace Niedermann to a company owned by "Karl Axel Bodin". Blomkvist has Erika Berger make copies of the documents including the 1993 police report and forwards the originals to Bublanski, and sets out to find Salander.
Salander crosses the grounds and enters the Gosseberga house, but Niedermann has been alerted by motion detectors and knocks her out. She awakens to see her father, Zalachenko, an old man who walks with a stick and is heavily scarred by the burns she inflicted as a child. He dismisses her mother as a whore and belittles her rape at the hands of Bjurman. He reveals that Niedermann is her half-brother. Niedermann killed Bjurman to prevent him from revealing any of Zalachenko's secrets. Zalachenko is confident he will not be caught, since being an invalid means the idea of his involvement in the murders lacks plausibility.
They lead Salander to a shallow grave in the woods. She tells him the police will find him soon and all that he has said has been published online through her hidden cellphone. Seeing through her bluff, he shoots her as she attempts to escape and buries her alive. Left for dead, Salander digs her way out using her cigarette case. Hidden in the woodshed, she surprises Zalachenko with an axe to the head. Salander scares Niedermann off with the help of Zalachenko's gun, just as Blomkvist finds them. Ambulances and police arrive to take away Salander and a still living Zalachenko.
Daniel Alfredson takes over from Niels Arden Oplev who directed the first part of The Millennium Trilogy.
The film received positive reviews from critics, although some noted it a step down from its predecessor. According to review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 69% based on 150 reviews.[2]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three and a half out of four stars, describing the film as a step down from The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo but only because the first film was so "fresh and unexpected".[3] A. O. Scott of the New York Times praised Rapace's performance, stating, "tiny and agile, her steely rage showing now and then the tiniest crack of vulnerability, belongs to another dimension altogether. She makes this movie good enough, but also makes you wish it were much better."[4] Lisa Kennedy of the Denver Post describes Lisbeth Salander as "worth the trouble" and having a "cold stare" the like of which has not been seen since "Clint was roaming the Italian hillsides." She notes the film uses the linked themes of bureaucratic corruption and misogyny where the previous film uses the themes of fascism and woman-hating. The review contrasts the violence against women and heroism of "Fire" with the violence of "The Killer Inside Me," complaining that the latter gives into the worst impulses, noting that only the former story "works" as some redemption is provided through revenge.[5]
Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune says the film is much the same as the first despite the new director (Daniel Alfredson) and screenwriter (Jonas Frykberg), and is likely to please those who enjoyed the first film. He notes Rapace generated considerable and well-earned attention for the first film and remains the chief asset, and works well with Michael Nyqvist who he suggests is a more sincere, Swedish version of Larry Hagman. Although he says Rapace and Nyqvist could not be better in their roles he feels that for the film to work better as cinematic pulp fiction, there needs to be acknowledgment of the middle ground between the righteous heroes and the evil villains.[6]
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gives the film 3 out of 4 stars.[7]
Rick Groen of the Globe and Mail describes the film as "Tepid and downright confusing" for those who have not read the books, although he suspects there are few who have not; he notes that the plot, "already thick on the page, often seems impenetrable here." Although he concedes the plot generates some suspense, he complains it more often results in confusion but hopes the next film in the trilogy will bring greater clarity.[8]
Before being released in the United States the film had already earned $51,259,526 at the international box office.[1]
During its first week of release in the United States, it grossed $904,998, being released in three times as many theaters as the first film and grossing three times as much.[1] The film has a worldwide gross of $67,126,795.[1]
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