Random Ramblings about Things and Whatever

Random Ramblings about Things and Whatever

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Random Movie Review: The Girl Who Played With Fire, 2010


Ok...Cubs game? Nah. Biggest Rock fest of the summer? Nah. Grim foreign thriller about long term abuse...with sub-titles? I'm in!!

This is a sequel to the earlier film The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Noomi Rapace is back as Lisbeth, the goth computer hacker as is Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomqqvist, the mild mannered yet driven journalist.This film was directed by Daniel Alfredson.

The plot picks up a year after the events of the first film. Mikael is back working as a reporter for Millennium magazine and Lisbeth has been living abroad. The conflict occurs when Lisbeth is framed for three murders. Two victims are reporters investigating human trafficking and the third is a man who was Lisbeth's case worker from the previous movie. Of course, Lisbeth is innocent and we follow our heroes as they undercover the true guilty party and how this case ties to the government and to Lisbeth's own past.

I really like the two leads of this film. Michael is understated without seeming boring or wimpy. Noomi plays her role with just the right amount of weird charisma. I especially enjoy the way Lisbeth's character is portrayed as someone with very serious emotional problems, but never made light of as if she's just "quirky" nor is she an object of pity. In real life some people would describe her as "damaged goods". However, Lisbeth is that rare breed that truly doesn't care what others think. It's acknowledged in the film that she's a person that it's sometimes difficult to be friends with, yet admirable enough in other ways to make her likable.

One thing I did have a problem with is there's a scene where Lisbeth interrogates a man that's a little too similar to the confrontation with the case worker in the first movie. Also, during this same scene she's in a disguise that makes her look like a member of a Scandinavian death metal band. Personally, I think she looks cool...but if you're breaking and entering and threatening someone are you really going to take the time to make yourself up to look like King Diamond? Or are you more likely to just put on a ski mask or something? Another thing is I wish a little more had been done with the human trafficking aspect of the story. Perhaps it'll be touched on again in the next movie.

I felt The Girl Who Played With Fire was a solid thriller.Not as daring and original as Dragon Tattoo, but an enjoyable film none the less.

Also, on the way to the theater I stepped in dog poo. I was walking past a church and a camera man was filming a wedding. Not wanting to interrupt his shot, I walked on the grass around the camera man and stepped in poo! I thought maybe I can turn this into a funny story! An existential metaphor for ....something! I got a wedding, good intentions, and poo! But after thinking about it all day I got nothing. Just poo on my shoe.

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