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Following their engrossing and intense introduction in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Mikael Blomqvist (Michael Nyqvist) and Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) continue their story in The Girl Who Played with Fire (Flickan Som Lekte Med Elden). But if it’s been a while since you saw the original, I recommend watching it again to refresh your memory—because, if not, you might find yourself hopelessly lost in the sequel.
In The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the star reporter and the troubled hacker teamed up to find a missing stranger. In The Girl Who Played with Fire, however, the mystery gets personal, exploring more of Lisbeth’s dark and troubled past.
After spending the last year in hiding, Lisbeth decides that it’s finally time to return home to Stockholm. Once she’s back, she pays a visit to Bjurman (Peter Andersson), her legal guardian. He’s been a bit lax in his reports of late, so she takes the time to remind him of their deal before moving into her new apartment, where no one will find her.
Meanwhile, at the Millennium, Blomqvist is working with a young reporter who’s recently uncovered a sex trafficking ring. Just as the story is about to run, though, the reporter and his girlfriend are killed in their apartment. When the police discover that Bjurman has been murdered, too, they trace all three murders back to Lisbeth.
Convinced that Lisbeth is innocent, Blomqvist sets out to find the real killer. Lisbeth, too, sets out to clear her name—a task that leads her to a mysterious gangster known as Zala.
It’s no wonder that all three films in the trilogy were released in the same year in Sweden—because if it’s been a while since you saw Dragon Tattoo, you could find yourself struggling to keep up with the sequel. Though the film opens by recapping the story through a few short, violent bursts from Lisbeth’s memories, it quickly jumps into a pair of complex storylines that soon converge into one perplexing plot. As the film delves deeper and deeper into Lisbeth’s past (and the sex-trafficking story is all but forgotten), things get even more complicated. Everyone, it seems, is connected in some way: Lisbeth’s guardian to Mikael’s johns to the elusive gangster who seems to be at the center of it all.
Meanwhile, new director Daniel Alfredson does a reasonable job of picking up where his predecessor, Niels Arden Opley, left off. Though Alfredson’s sequel isn’t quite as intense as the first film in the trilogy—at least not until the end—he makes a smooth transition nonetheless. Unfortunately, though, he also employs some of his predecessor’s more frustrating filmmaking techniques—like using the ever-present TV newscasts to propel the story. Alfredson relies on the trick a bit too much—and you’ll often wonder how reporters manage to find out so many details before anyone else does.
Fortunately, though, The Girl Who Played with Fire is still smarter than the average Hollywood thriller—and it still offers plenty of haunting, gritty suspense. The exploration of Lisbeth’s past—while often rather complicated—connects the characters to the story. And although audiences will miss the chemistry between the unlikely crime-solving duo—who are separated for most of the movie—they’ll be captivated by Lisbeth’s dark and mysterious history. It isn’t a stellar sequel, but the fascinating characters still make it worth seeking out.
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