The Girl Who Played with Fire (film)

The Girl Who Played with Fire
File:The Girl Who Played with Fire.jpg Swedish film poster
Directed by	Daniel Alfredson
Screenplay by	Ulf Ryberg
Story by	Stieg Larsson
Produced by	Soren Staermose Jon Mankell
Starring	Noomi Rapace Michael Nyqvist
Cinematography	Peter Mokrosinski
Edited by	Mattias Morheden
Music by	Jacob Groth
Distributed by	Zodiak Entertainment
Release date	18 September 2009 (2009-09-18)
Running time	129 minutes
Country	Template:Film Sweden
Language	Swedish
Box office	$66,995,253

The Girl Who Played with Fire (Swedish: Flickan som lekte med elden) is a 2009 Swedish thriller film directed by Daniel Alfredson. 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 Trilogy".

The film follows Lisbeth Salander returning to Sweden after spending a year abroad. Having returned, she falls under suspicion for 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.

Plot

Lisbeth Salander is in the Caribbean meeting with her accountant to discuss her investments, and to finalize her purchase of an apartment in Stockholm. On returning to Sweden, Salander reconnects with Miriam Wu and offers her free use of her previous apartment in return for forwarding her mail. Wu gives her a cigarette case as a belated birthday gift. Salander visits Dragan Armansky, her former employer, and is shocked to learn her former guardian Holger Palmgren survived his stroke and is in recovery. Salander visits him in the hospice and shares a tender moment. She confronts her new guardian Bjurman and, threatening him with his own gun, warns him not to attempt to remove the tattoo marking him as a rapist and a sadistic pig.

Millennium magazine welcomes Dag Svensson (Hans Christian Thulin), a new journalist who is writing an expose on prostitution and human trafficking in Sweden. Dag’s girlfriend, Mia Johansson, is writing a thesis on sex trafficking for her doctorate. Dag is nearly finished with the story and is tracking down loose ends and confronting those who will be exposed by the article. Blomkvist 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, tells Blomkvist they have no need for him to play private detective and he should stay out of it. Salander tells Blomkvist she did not kill Dag and Mia. She tells Blomkvist he needs to find the mysterious "Zala".

In an effort to find Salander, Blomkvist contacts her boxing trainer and friend, Paolo Roberto. While he does not know where Salander is, he does know Miriam, who also trained with them, and promises to pay her a visit to ask her what she knows to help Salander. That night, after not finding Miriam at her apartment, Paolo walks back to his car only to see her being taken away by strongman Niedermann. Paolo follows Niedermann's car to a deserted barn in the woods where he hears him beat Miriam and question her about Salander's whereabouts. Paolo comes in to rescue her but Niedermann incapacitates him. Paolo and Miriam barely escape as Niedermann sets the barn aflame.

News breaks of the attack and Paolo gives his account to the police. Knowing now that he is Salander's friend, Miriam calls Blomkvist to the hospital to give him keys that Salander dropped accidentally while visiting her the night before to apologize for getting her involved. Without giving anything away, Salander confirms the police sketch of Niedermann with Miriam and then disappears. After reading her mail, Blomkvist is able to find Salander's apartment but triggers the alarm when he lets himself in. Salander turns off the alarm remotely, allowing him to enter before returning to her own efforts to find Niedermann by watching his post office box. She sees someone check the post box and follows them to a small house near Gosseberga.

Researching through the material in her apartment Blomkvist finds a video of Bjurman raping Salander. Later, he receives an e-mail from her 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.

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 enters the house, but Niedermann is ready and knocks her out. She awakens to see her father Zalachenko, an old man who walks with a stick and is still scarred by the burns she inflicted as a child. The house had full surveillance and they knew she was coming. 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. He sees through her bluff and shoots her as she attempts to escape and buries her body. 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.

Cast

• Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomkvist
• Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander
• Tehilla Blad as young Lisbeth Salander
• Lena Endre as Erika Berger
• Peter Andersson as Nils Erik Bjurman
• Per Oscarsson as Holger Palmgren
• Sofia Ledarp as Malin Eriksson
• Yasmine Garbi as Miriam Wu
• Georgi Staykov as "Zala"
• Annika Hallin as Annika Giannini
• Tanja Lorentzon as Sonja Modig
• Paolo Roberto as Himself
• Johan Kylén as Jan Bublanski
• Magnus Krepper as Hans Faste
• Ralph Carlsson as Gunnar Björk
• Micke Spreitz as Ronald Niedermann
• Anders Ahlbom as Doctor Peter Teleborian

Production

Daniel Alfredson takes over from Niels Arden Oplev who directed the first part of the Millennium Trilogy.

Reception

Critical response

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 a "fresh" rating of 69% based on 145 reviews, with an average score of 6.2/10.

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 Tatttoo but only because the first film was so "fresh and unexpected". 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." 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 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.

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.

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine gives the film 3 out 4 stars.

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, and describes the plot as "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.

Box office

Before being released in the United States the film had already earned $51,259,526 at the international box office.

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. The film has a worldwide gross of $66,995,253.

See also

• Millennium (Swedish miniseries)

External links

• The Girl Who Played with Fire at IMDb
• The Girl Who Played With Fire review at MEAP Careers