"The Girl Who Played With Fire'

'The Girl Who Played With Fire' (R) (rental)

Writer: Jonas Frykberg based on novel by Stieg Larsson
Director: Daniel Alfredson
Starring: Noomi Rapace, Mikael Nyqvist, Peter Andersson, Yasmine Garbi, Georgi Staykov

I did not read Stieg Larsson's first book "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" but I admired the taut, suspenseful and intriguing movie based on the novel. I have not read the second book but in reviewing "The Girl Who Played With Fire" I am wondering what went wrong. I did not feel the same feeling of suspense, surprise or deep character development. Oh there is plenty of suspense here but not like the first movie. The first movie did kind of shock me with it's explicit sex and violence. The movie wasn't afraid to let it all hang out. The second time around I felt like I had seen this all before. I also felt that I found out a lot more about the heroine here but not the secondary character of Mikael played by Mikael Nyqvist. It also doesn't help that Mikael and Lisbeth don't share screen time until very late in the movie. My favorite part of the first one was the subtle love story between Mikael and Lisbeth that was moving and bittersweet. There is no real motivating force here that got to me. That being said I love the performance of Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth and I think she is one of the best characters in recent film memory. I also did get into the story here and it is well told but I did not feel that this movie moved me as much as the first one. Rapace's performance actually is even better than her performance in the first movie and that is a credit to her. She is still a fascinating character and Rapace makes us feel for her.

If you have seen the first movie or read the novel it is based on then you really don't need a back story to follow this second movie. Though if you didn't see the first one I recommend you rent it and this movie instead of going to a theatre. If you come in cold, knowing nothing about this movie I don't think you will totally get it. I am very interested to see what people who read the second book think about the movie. Not being a reader of the books, I felt that the first movie is a near masterpiece and that the second one is a bridge to the third story. I just wanted to see more of Lisbeth and Mikael together. Their relationship is why I felt the first movie was a great movie. Here I felt I saw a pretty good story that was great to watch but kind of a letdown.