Lobo's Movie Reviews

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Movie Review: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

Alternate Title: It's a Wrap!

Story: Lisbeth Salander is in big trouble again. This last part of Stieg Larsson's Milennium Trilogy ties up all of the loose ends in Lisbeth's troubled life. The Hornet's Nest picks up where The Girl Who Played With Fire ends. You need to have seen the previous film in order to appreciate part three of the trilogy. We meet Lisbeth in the hospital where she is recovering from a gunshot wound to the head, broken bones and a bruised soul. Lisbeth spends about a third of the film in the hospital and a third of the film in court. Her supporter, Mikael Blomkvist, once again spends most of his time trying to help Lisbeth out of trouble.

This film is a less action packed than the previous two and more talky. There is a grand conspiracy that needs unraveling and if you have not read the books you must pay attention. This film requires some patience but you will be rewarded if you hang in there. I will miss Lisbeth and look forward to the Hollywood rendition of this trilogy coming soon to a theater near you.

Like The Girl Who Played With Fire this film was directed by Daniel Alfredson. It was written by Ulf Rydberg and of course, based on the novel by Stieg Larsson.

To read my review of the The Girl Who Played With Fire go here: http://lobosmoviereviews.wordpress.com/2010/08/08/movie-review-the-girl-who-played-with-fire/ and to read my review of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo go here: http://judylobo.wordpress.com/2010/07/05/movie-review-the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo/

Watch the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auMUTwFBomU

Acting: Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomkvist has more of an action hero role than in the previous films. Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander once again owns this role. Brava! Georgi Staykov as Alexander Zalachenko plays pure evil in grand style. The entire supporting is fine including: Annika Hallin (Annika Giannini), Per Oscarsson (Holger Palmgren), Lena Endre (Erika Berger), Peter Andersson (Nils Bjurman), Jacob Ericksson (Christer Malm) and Sofia Ledarp (Malin Eriksson).

Trivia: Stieg Larsson (1954-2004) was a Swedish writer and journalist.
Prior to his sudden death of a heart attack in November 2004 he finished three detective novels in his trilogy "The Millenium-series" which were published posthumously; "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo", "The Girl Who Played With Fire" and "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest". Altogether, his trilogy has sold more than 20 million copies in 41 countries (spring of 2010), and he was the second best selling author in the world 2008. For more on Stieg Larsson go to his web site. http://www.stieglarsson.com/

Predilection: I liked the first two films in this trilogy and had to see the final chapter.

Critters: None

Food: Hospital gruel and pizza

Sex Spectrum: No sex just references to Lisbeth's awful rape.

Blatant Product Placement: Apple computers

Soundtrack: Nice music by Jacob Groth.

Opening Titles: All titles are at the end.

Visual Art: There is a blue tint to the film and the concept of less is more works well here.

Theater Audience: Five other people.

Weather: Sweden always seems cold and damp.

Sappy Factor: 0

Quirky Meter: 0

Squirm Scale: Evil makes me squirm.

Drift Factor: I paid attention throughout.

Predictability Level: High

Tissue Usage: 0

Oscar Worthy: Who knows?

Big Screen or Rental: Go for the big screen.

Length: Two hours and 20 minutes

LOBO HOWLS: 8