The Girl Who Played With Fire

The second part of the Millennium trilogy might be shorter in length than the first, but it contains far more plot and introduces several new characters and consequently feels far less satisfying. Details from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo expand into vital plot points but bizarrely Lisbeth and Blomkvist spend the entire film apart, conducting parallel investigations into a trio of murders connected to sex trafficking. It probably couldn't be helped and will surely be rectified in the final part but it makes for a curiously structured film. What does continue from the first movie is the basic message that all men are sexual predators and/or murderers (the Swedish TV version of Wallander seems to subscribe to this POV as well) which doesn't say a lot for Swedish males. Again, though, the sex trafficking investigation that sets everything in motion gets left behind although it is clear that the corruption spreads right to the top of the establishment. It's Lisbeth's personal history that moves centre stage which unfortunately gives rise to several borderline-laughable revelations (the nigh-invincible half-brother being especially unfortunate) and ultimately distracts from the very serious issue at the heart of the trilogy so far: violence towards and exploitation of women by men.