Flickan som lekte med elden
Tags: mystery, murder, violence, flashback, action, revenge

Plot synopsis:
Note: this is the sequel to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Repace) wakes up after having a violent dream about being raped by her guardian, Nils Bjurman (Peter Andersson) (from the previous movie). She is currently living in St. George in the Caribbean and then goes to a meeting with her accountant who discusses the inheritance Lisbeth received from her recently deceased mother after funeral costs and the purchase of a house in Stockholm. She hacks Bjurman's account and sees he has scheduled a doctors appointment. She flies home to Sweden.In Stockholm, a messenger working for an unnamed employer visits Bjurman looking for a police report on Lisbeth. He tells her he will make a copy of his files and tells the messenger that Lisbeth is still abroad. The messenger drives him home and tells Bjurman he will be in touch. Lisbeth is watching from the trees and prepares to break into his house. As he sleeps, Lisbeth goes to his desk and looks for something. She finds a gun in his desk and points it at him asking about the files. She tells him that as long as his reports say she's well behaved, she won't send their movie (of Bjurman raping her) to every newspaper in the country. She makes it clear that if she dies, the tape gets released. And if he tries to remove the tattoos she gave him for the rape, she will give him worse ones.Bjurman makes a deal: the DVD recording of the rape for files on her. Lisbeth goes to her new apartment and starts work on it.Meanwhile, reporter Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) is at meeting with a co-owner of Millenium and part time lover, Erika Berger (Lena Endre). She asks about Lisbeth but Blomkvist claims that he hasn't heard from her in over a year. He learns that a new journalist, named Dag Svensson, has been hired to write a piece on human sex trafficking. Dag's girlfriend, Mia, helps him come up with the subject through her work as a researcher on gender and criminology. Mia focuses on the girls and Dag focuses on customers. He has traced it to members of the government. He hasn't confronted the people the expose is on. Blomkvist warns him that they need to check facts and Dag assures him the documentation is water-proof. The editors are all in agreement and decide to take Dag on for two months. They are taking a risk but they all agree it's worth it.A man named Sandstrom is having sex with a woman tied to a bed. He walks out and finds himself surrounded by three men in leather jackets who have a job for him.Lisbeth visits her sometimes-girlfriend, Miriam 'Mimmi' Wu (whom was glimpsed briefly in the previous movie as the girl in bed with Lisbeth when Blomkvist met her for the first time). They talk and Lisbeth gives Mimmi her apartment to stay in. The two of them have lesbian sex. Afterwards Mimmi gives Lisbeth a birthday present: a silver plated cigarette case.A few days later, Dag meets up with Mia for coffee. She presents him with a published copy of her sex trafficking doctorate and he kisses her. He reads it and calls Blomkvist while he is at a family picnic with his sister. He wants to hold off publishing the story until he hunts down a lead named Zala that Mia refers to as Anton in her doctorate. Blomkvist doesnt want to incorporate new leads at the last minute but Dag offers to messenger the information to him. Blomkvist tells him he'll be right over and drives to meet him.When Blomkvist arrives he finds Dag and Mia dead. Both shot through the head. He calls the police and they find a weapon registered to Bjurman. The police go to his apartment and find the gun... along with Bjurman's body. The police find Lisbeth's fingerprints on the weapon and immediately make her suspect number one.Meanwhile, Lisbeth visits her former employer Dragan Armanskij at Merrin Security. He offers her a job but Lisbeth tells him that she's been travelling. She tells him that she doesn't know why she didn't say goodbye but Armanskij tells her that she doesn't really care about people at all. He tells her that Blomkvist has been calling the office and asking for her. Her former guardian, Holger Palmgren, has also been calling and Lisbeth is shocked to learn he is alive.Lisbeth visits Palmgren at the hospice where he is recovering and feeds him. He asks her how things are with the new guardian and she assures him that he's O.K. He tells her he feels like he has got old and silly. They joke around.The next day, Lisbeth sees the wanted posters of her and hides out in her new fancy apartment that nobody knows about, which she purchased with her stolen money (which she aquired in the Wennerström affair in the previous movie) and lists it under the shell corporation called Wasp Enterprises. She hacks into Blomkvist's computer and sends him a message to let him know that she is innocent. She urges him to find a man named 'Zala'. Blomkvist works to locate Lisbeth but only manages to find her former boxing trainer, Paulo.Lisbeth and Blomkvist track down their own leads to try and find Zala. As Blomkvist tracks down Dag's informants to confront them, Lisbeth hunts down Sandstrom at his house and threatens to kill him if he doesn't help her. He tells her that Zala makes sure all members are loyal and recounts a tale of how Niedermann and his men killed a man in front of him snapping his neck to teach Sandstrom a lesson. Lisbeth hears Sandstrom's daughter enter and leaves Sandstrom weeping with a noose around his neck.Paulo offers to pay Lisbeth's girlfriend and visit to help Blomkvist find Lisbeth. He goes to find Mimmi only to find her being strong armed into a car by a blonde thug named Niedermann. He follows Niedermann's car to the countryside and finds them in a barn. Niedermann is brutally beating Mimmi asking for Lisbeth's location. Paulo fights Niedermann to protect Mimmi. The two duke it out but Paulo's hits don't really do anything. Niedermann knocks Paulo out. Niedermann sets the barn on fire leaving the two to die. Paulo and Mimmi barely make it out alive.Lisbeth hears about Mimmi's attack and pays her a visit in the hospital. She apologizes to Mimmi and leaves but leaves her new apartment keys behind. Blomkvist visits Mimmi and she gives him the keys so that he can get into Lisbeth's apartment. Mimmi tells Blomkvist that the man who beat her was large and blonde, confirming a police sketch and then allows Blomkvist to leave. He goes straight to Lisbeth's apartment and sets off the alarm. Lisbeth remotely deactivates it and allows him to enter.Lisbeth watches Niedermann's post office box and sees who goes to collect the mail. She follows him to a small house in the rural village of Gossberga, several miles to the southwest of Stockholm. She prepares to sneak into the house, but is knocked out by Niedermann.Meanwhile, Blomkvist looks through Lisbeth's apartment but realizes she isn't there. He checks her laptop computer that she left behind and watches the video of Bjurman raping Lisbeth. He leaves the apartment and goes to the Millenium office where he meets up with Paulo. Paulo tells him about the fight with Niedermann and points out his conclusion: Niedermann is incapable of feeling pain. They research Niedermann and find out he works for a company owned by Karl Boden. They forward what they find to the police and go to find Lisbeth.When Lisbeth comes to, she is sitting on a sofa in front of a horribly disfigured old man. It is Zalachenko, Lisbeth's father. It is explained that Lisbeth set Zalachenko on fire when he beat her mother. He ridicules her rape at the hands of Bjurman and mocks Lisbeth's mother, calling her a common whore. Bjurman wanted to kill Lisbeth but he also knew some of Zalachenko's secrets, so he had Bjurman killed and Lisbeth framed for the murder as well as the two other killings of Dag and Mia. Since he's nothing but a poor old invalid, no one will prosecute him for the crimes committed. He then reveals that Niedermann is Lisbeth's half brother from a tryst he had with a Swedish woman while hiding out in netural Sweden after World War II.Niedermann and Zalachenko take her to a shallow grave. She tells him that the police will be on their way and that everything he said in the last hour has been published online. He takes her cell phone and looks at it and calls it a bluff. Lisbeth throws dirt in Niedermann's eyes and hits his gun hand with the shovel before running away. Zalachenko shoots Lisebeth in her right leg, then her right shoulder, and in the head as she runs away and then orders Niedermann to bury Lisbeth who is probally dead. They return to the house after burying her.The next morning, Blomkvist is looking at a map on the side of the road and changes course, realizing he is going the wrong way.Meanwhile, at the farm, Lisbeth (despite being critcially wounded with a bullet in her head) digs her way out of her own grave using the silver cigarette case Mimmi gave her. Zalachenko picks up a gun when he hears a noise outside and goes to see what is going on in his barn. He finds the door open and looks around for the source. As he looks around he is hit in the side of the head with an axe, splitting his skull. Lisbeth than rams the axe into his leg. Niedermann hears his father's screams and goes to find him. He sees his father with an axe in his leg and then sees Lisbeth with Zalachenko's gun in her hand. Niedermann turns and runs as Lisbeth shoots at him, missing each time.Blomkvist pulls into the house and sees Niedermann leaving the scene. Blomkvist runs to the bloodied Lisbeth who crawls out of the barn and collapses. He caresses the wound on her head and tells her that he's here for her. She passes out from blood loss.Police arrive at the scene as do ambulances. A helicopter arrives to med-evac Lisbeth and Zalachenko to the hospital. Blomkvist watches as she is taken away. The helicopter flies the injured away from the farm house.

Review: Salander has lost some of her mysterious goth charm, and the sex trafficking theme is only touched very softly, turning the movie into a regular investigation with a familiar cast of characters.The movie is worth watching, but it's my impression that you should rather read the book first, to get a much deeper insight in the great novel..
There's an important detail about the film version of The Girl Who Played with Fire (in fact, of the whole Millennium trilogy) that needs to be known in order to understand why some (myself included) perceive this as the most flawed installment in the series: originally, all three adaptations were shot for Swedish television, with six 90-minute episodes condensing Stieg Larsson's remarkable prose.
In the case of the second film, 60 minutes went missing in the TV-to-cinema transition, and it shows.Picking up from the first episode, we catch up with Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) enjoying his newfound freedom and restored reputation, while troubled hacker Lisbeth Salander keeps mostly to herself.
Evidence points to Salander being the killer, and with no way to defend herself she ends up on the run, desperate to prove her innocence, while Mikael tries to help her as much as he can from the office, eventually realizing he's in much bigger trouble than last time.Based on the summary alone, The Girl Who played with Fire should be as great a thriller as its predecessor.
That it isn't is essentially up to a couple of factors: firstly, new director Daniel Alfredson (brother of Let the Right One In's Tomas), who replaced Niels Arden Oplev for the last two bits of the trilogy, occasionally fails to capture the same raw atmosphere as in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; secondly, the aforementioned removal of one hour's worth of footage makes the whole thing feel a bit rushed, particularly in regards to new characters who are hastily introduced and then dispatched just as quickly.
There are rumors of a possible Oscar campaign for her work in the trilogy (though if they had to single out a specific installment, the logical choice would be The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), and she really deserves it, not least for her ability to show off her dramatic skills even in a moment as irrelevant as a gratuitous girl-on-girl scene (again, faithful to the book) that has clearly been added to compensate for occasional shaky plot points.In short, The Girl Who Played with Fire is a great acting lesson and a fun thriller, but little more.
The success of the first movie keeps us interested in these characters and their story, so the movie still works although some of the original magic is missing.The film picks up one year after the first one left us and Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) is back working at Millennium with his crew: Erika Berger (Lena Endre) and Malin Erikson (Sofia Ledarp).
Mikael knows Lisbeth is innocent and begins investigating some of the people involved in the ring, while she does some investigating of her own uncovering some dark secrets of her past while trying to stay hidden from the police.It is hard to review this movie on its own, unlike the first one because that one had a decent ending in itself, but this second part serves more as a bridge to the third film then it does on its own.
This is the Swedish-language film adaptation of the second of the three "Millennium" crime novels by the Swedish journalist Stieg Larsson and it's really essential that one sees "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" first because vital themes are continued.
Most middle segments of trilogies lack the bright originality of the first and the satisfying denouement of the last, but this one will certainly hold your attention until the girl kicks the hornet's nest.In this central segment, Lisbeth Salander (the mesmerising Noomi Rapace) is much more central to the narrative and indeed she and investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) are only physically together for moments, although often in electronic communication and always in emotional connection.The criminality being investigated by the "Millennium" team is more woman-hating in the form of sex trafficking and again the plot contains some surprises but this time the villains are reminiscent of Bond baddies like Blofeld and Jaws.
The whole movie feels like an expanded "Wallender" episode from the Swedish police-detective TV mystery series.* "The Girl Who Played With Fire" gave us seemingly straightforward 'facts' as the multiple characters uncover - likened to a 'treasure hunt' (or musical chairs, if you so inclined from the number game of the targets by the villains) vs.
Before the start of the GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE, we were introduced in the cinema (Cineworld, Haymarket) to the films Director DANIEL ALFREDSON - who was kind enough to give us a talk on the background to the film – which is the second film based on the late Steig Larsson's "Millennium" trilogy of books (the first being THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, and the third being THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST).The director explained how the three films were made back-to-back over a year, and how it was he himself that directed the final two films – which are effectively the same mega-story split over two films.
He also told us of how it was working with the main actors and especially Noomi Rapace and how she had learnt kick-boxing, self defence and motorbike riding all to get in shape for the film.The director also mentioned a bit about the late author Steig Larsson – and his life, and the background to the Millennium trilogy of books.
and was much appreciated by the audience ...The GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE starts with a flashback sequence to the first movie THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, and the story then resumes, when Lisbeth Salander (NOOMI RAPACE) has just returned to Sweden after a year in exile.Meanwhile, Mikael Blomkvist (MICHAEL NYQVIST), the publisher of Millennium magazine, has made his living exposing the crooked and corrupt practise's of establishment Swedish figures.
Mikael's initial impetus to investigate one of the biggest breaking stories of sex trafficking trade in Sweden amongst those in high office is soon taking second place, when here hears of the accusations of Lisbeth being accused of murder – and he then embarks on a mission to clear her name.Mikael and Lisbeth are effectively after the same goal, but they are coming at the solution from two different directions, Mikael through dogged determination and legwork, and Lisbeth a very talented computer hacker, coming from a more "involved" viewpoint in a savage world where rules and boundaries don't apply.The more the intriguing story unfolds, the more you find out the secrets from Lisbeth's past – it's like unpeeling an onion only to find more and more hidden underneath – each additional layer building her into one of the most fascinating, multi-dimensional lead female characters for many years – a role brilliantly played by Noomi Rapace.The direction (DANIEL ALFREDSON) and narrative work really well and it is a strong cast throughout.
It is good to know that the same director is also responsible for part three of the trilogy – so we know it will be in good capable hands.Credit should also be given to the other actors especially Micke Spreitz as Ronald Niedermann – about as nasty a film goon as you are going to come across, Peter Andersson as Lisbeth's twisted evil guardian Nils Bjurman, and Georgi Staykov as the mysterious "Zala".If you liked The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (and many did), then you'll be sure to like The Girl Who Played With Fire.
It's a fast-paced, tough, smart and exciting movie and its living, breathing soul is the enticing character of Lisbeth Salander, played by the amazing Noomi Rapace.The movie picks up right where the last movie left off, so in order to understand and enjoy it fully, you either need to have read Men Who Hate Women (aka Girl With a Dragon Tattoo, aka Millennium 1)or seen the previous movie.
The Girl Who Played With FireTo be fair, the only time a girl ever plays with fire is when she's firebombing her cheating ex- boyfriend's vehicle.And while the girl in this mystery isn't exacting revenge on an old flame, she is lighting a fire under someone's ass.When computer hacker Lisbeth (Noomi Rapace) is accused of murdering a journalist covering a sex trafficking story, she finds herself eluding authorities and a cicatrized face from her past.Coming to her aid is her old lover Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), a colleague of the deceased, who not only wants to help Lisbeth but also finish his associate's investigation.The sequel to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire is as thrilling and unsettling as its predecessor.Despite the fact that Lisbeth and Blomkvist's relationship is hardly mentioned, much is revealed about the formers' traumatic upbringing.Besides, hackers aren't the ones killing journalistsbloggers are.
In case you're not already aware, the films based on Stieg Larsson's best-selling Millennium Trilogy books are released here in successive months, from The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo in August, followed by The Girl who Played with Fire this month, and then concluding with The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest in October.
While I had enjoyed the first installment tremendously, being a great introduction to fascinating characters, especially the titular girl Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace), and having an aged old mystery to solve, the same cannot be said of this one, which like most middle films of a trilogy, find it hard to live up to the first film's billing, and leaving things open for the third film to wrap up.The Girl Who Played with Fire picked up where the previous film left off, and had some fine touches to link elements back to its predecessor where Lisbeth revisits her corrupt guardian Nils Bjurman (Peter Andersson) to remind him that she's still keeping tabs, and threatening him with his own gun should he remove the tattoo she left on him.
However it is undeniable that the top draw for the Millennium Trilogy is the tattooed hacker Lisbeth, and Noomi Rapace gets a gorgeous amount of screen time to get to showcase her nuanced performance, as well as to delve deeper into her abused character, through a hidden past that will link up to the present day case, in some way.The villains here may not seem quite as menacing from those in the first installment, other than an extremely strong man who's impervious to pain (quite clichéd), and a handicapped senior citizen both of whom have links to Lisbeth's past.
Daniel Alfredson takes a more mainstream approach to filming and story telling and, of course, he loses the element of surprise we enjoyed in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo".With Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist back as Lisbeth and Mikael Blomkvist respectively, it certainly helps to have seen the first film to fill in the character development that this one assumes.
OK, I loved the first installment of the Millennium trilogy although I thought it was sometimes clumsy but this second episode is awful.Lisbeth is not as mysterious as before, the cinematography and the editing have the quality of a cheap soap opera (honestly have they been filming with a camcorder with their feet?), the mise en scene makes any Nollywood film (Nigerian cheap version of Hollywood for those who never seen those brilliant terrible films) looks like Citizen Kane, even the sets looks like they've been made by a class of 4 years old kids and the acting (well except for the two main protagonists who are clearly trying their best).I mean with a story like that, I could they get it so wrong?
Now that I know all about Larsson - he reported on slimy deeds in Sweden's high finance before dying of a heart attack at the age of fifty - "The Girl Who Played with Fire" ("Flickan som lekte med elden" in its native Swedish) doesn't have the same impact as the first installment, but it's still worth seeing.In this one, journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) has to clear Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) of murder, all in the midst of an investigation into human trafficking.
Michael Nyquist's character is slightly relegated to the role of the classical seeker of truth, but his acting is still so good that I continue to be concerned about Daniel Craig taking over his role in the Hollywood version in-making (although I like the actor and I believe he deserves and can make much better than a Bond).Maybe the secret of the magnetic force of these films is that faced with the most sordid vice or violence or put under the darkest physical or psychological threats the heroes created by Stieg Larsson remain without doubt human.
Even though I liked The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo very much, I wanted to keep my expectations for The Girl Who Played With Fire low, because at being a sequel I considered that it was not going to equal the innovation from the first film, or that it was going to repeat the fascinating development of the relationship between the two main characters.And even though that I was right on both things, I have to admit that The Girl Who Played With Fire is a solid movie on its own, with an ingenious and complex screenplay and with a good atmosphere of suspense.The central mystery from The Girl Who Played With Fire might be a bit more conventional than the one from The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, but that does not avoid it from being a very interesting film.And I have to mention that you should definitely see the first film before watching this sequel, not only to appreciate the dynamic between the two main characters more, but also to understand the motivation from characters who occasionally act against any common sense.I think that The Girl Who Played With Fire fulfills with its intention of enriching the narrative from the first movie by introducing new characters and enough revelations which genuinely make it a continuation, without losing the attention of the subjects which had already been established.The Girl Who Played With Fire kept me interested the whole time, but I understand why some people could find it boring, because the methodic rhythm from this film can be translated as parsimony, because the movie tells the mystery from the screenplay without any unnecessary melodrama or forced clichés.Sure, there are some fight and some action scenes, but they are not used to satisfy commercial requirements, but to serve as integral parts from the screenplay.So, you do not have to expect a Hollywood style action film, but a tense thriller with the taste of European "old school".As for the leading actors, Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist back to bring excellent performances in this sequel; as for the supporting cast, I liked the performances from Lena Endre, Per Oscarsson and specially, Mikael Spreitz.On the negative side from this film, I have to mention some forced coincidences in the story, some scenes which do not seem to totally fit in the movie and an instance of the classic "talkative villain", who is always useful to tie the loose ends from the screenplay.Nevertheless, despite those fails, The Girl Who Played With Fire ended up being better than I expected, and I liked it pretty much, so I think it is worthy of a recommendation..
Journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) and hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) return in this sequel to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
I really enjoyed THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (both film versions and the novel) but the second tale of Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist wasn't as intriguing.
After seeing The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, which I really enjoyed, I feel obliged to see out this trilogy and so went to see the second part.It is a good film and as a thriller it works very well.
The sequel to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and second chapter in the Millennium Trilogy, The Girl Who Played with Fire does lack the brutal intensity, sinister ambiance & sustained thrills of the original and is a definite tumble down the road but thanks to another excellent input from Noomi Rapace, this sequel isn't a complete disaster.Based on Stieg Larsson's novel of the same name, The Girl Who Played with Fire continues the story of Lisbeth Salander as she finds herself accused of murdering three people & goes on the run to evade arrest.
excerpt, full review at my location - Lisbeth Salander returns in the second part of Stieg Larsson's 'Millennium Trilogy', continuing the story that began with the hugely successful The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
The other two books were adapted at the same time, but for Swedish television and edited into films.A year after the events of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) is living in Caribbean after stealing a fortune from a corrupt business tycoon.
This, the second of the 'Millennium Trilogy, sees the return of Lisbeth Salander and investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist and if you haven't seen 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' you are likely to be confused as to what is going on as plot details related to events in that film aren't explained.
The second film in the trilogy is a well-made crime/thriller/mystery that rises above average thanks to very good acting from Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist as Lisbeth and Blomkvist as well as from the actors playing new characters in the life of the girl who was not afraid to play with fire.
I found Lisbeth one of most interesting and fascinating movie characters I've seen on screen lately and I am sure that even after watching the last film in the series and learning more about her past, I'll be reading the books with interest.