Film Review: The Girl Who Played with Fire

Last night I watched The Girl Who Played with Fire, the second of the Swedish Millennium series, based on the books by Steig Larrsson (see my previous review). It carries right off from the first one. It doesn't really stand on its own as a film, without the first. So, watch them in order.

It's moody and well produced and definitely watchable fun. Here's the plot summary:

Mikael Blomkvist is about to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation between Eastern Europe and Sweden, implicating well-known and highly placed members of Swedish society. On the eve of publication, the two investigating reporters are murdered and the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to Lisbeth Salander.

Where the first film was loaded with various sordid depictions of misogyny, (I wasn't so into that),  this one seems to adopt some comic book elements that don't really fit with the gritty crime thriller thing they have going. I was able to overlook them and enjoy it, I just wish I didn't have to.

For example, there is this big blond mammoth of an enforcer who, they explain, was born with a defect where he can feel no pain. It kind of reminded me of that crazy monk in The DaVinci Code -- totally over-the-top. I suppose thugs that don't feel pain are supposed to be scary, but, hey, a bullet will solve that problem, so why bother? It seemed entirely gratuitous to make a thing out of it. Salander, the main character, also seems to have the ability to do all kinds of things that aren't really possible (even defying death in situations that would kill anyone else). I know this is a trope in thrillers, but,  it would be better stripped of those elements. Rating: 6/10
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