The Girl Who Played with Fire - 3 1/2 smiles

If you’re going to see “The Girl Who Played with Fire,” it would help if you’ve seen “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” or read the books. Based on Swedish writer Steig Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy, “The Girl Who Played with Fire” jumps into the narrative and assumes you’ll be able to follow along. In the first movie, we met the central characters, journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) and computer hacker Lisabeth Salander (Noomi Rapace), who worked together to solve a case involving kidnapping and murder. In this film, a straightforward thriller with mystery elements, the lead characters do not interact, but solve the crime from different angles. The crime is the murder of a Millennium Magazine writer and his girlfriend, who are working on a story about a sex-trafficking ring. Evidence at the scene of the murders, as well as the killing of Lisabeth’s guardian Nels Bjurman (Peter Andersson), implicates Lisabeth and the police begin hunting her. She, in turn, begins tracking Zala, an underworld crime lord and the man she believes to be the killer. Meanwhile, Mikael, convinced of Lisabeth’s innocence, launches his own investigation into Zala.

The main reason to see “The Girl Who Played with Fire” is Noomi Rapace. She breathes life into Lisabeth, illuminating Lisabeth’s indomitable strength and the vulnerability that hovers behind her eyes, most often hidden, but visible during the quiet times. That’s not to say that Michael Nyqvist’s Blomkvist isn’t effective. He is, but when compared to Rapace’s Goth, pierced Lisabeth, with her damaged soul and haunted eyes, there’s no comparison. Chunks of the plot have been have been deleted in the screenplay so at times it might be hard to follow what’s happening. So you might find the first movie more satisfying. And because this is the second in a trilogy, it suffers from being the middle child. Nonetheless, I’m eagerly waiting for “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest,” which opens in October. Subtitles. 10/12/10