Sequels can be rough — especially when trying to follow up such a great first effort. This was my general thinking going into the second of the three films in Stieg Larsson’s “Millennium” series. I remained optimistic, but after watching “The Girl Who Played with Fire,” my stance on sequels remained snug in place.
The film starts off where “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” ended. Lisabeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) is in hiding and Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) is back at work, this time uncovering the sex trafficking in Sweden.
As a major article, which exposes not only the trade but participants as well, is about to go to press, one of Millennium’s writers is found shot dead in his apartment along with his wife. The murder weapon belongs to Nils Bjurman, the once guardian and sexual assailant of Lisabeth, and has Lisabeth’s prints all over it. Hours later, the police find Bjurman dead in his home with a matching bullet to the head. The police immediately target Lisabeth as the killer, but Blomkvist has his doubts and sets out to prove her innocence.
What “Dragon Tattoo” did so well, “The Girl Who Played with Fire” strongly lacks. The first film had a slow suspenseful build, emotionally gripping scenes and an engaging plot. “Played with Fire” suffers from the exact opposite.
The audience is thrown into fire — yes, that pun was completely intended — way too quickly, which is a bit overwhelming. Then in the middle of the film, it slows and scenes become unnecessary and tiresome. All the emotion from the first film that kept you squirming is lost. While some may find it fun, the plot is very generic and obvious, and pushes forward so quickly that you never really connect with the situations.
Not having read the novels, it’s possible that the film tried to squeeze in too much of what Larsson’s book had to offer, causing the result to be muddled. Either way, if it weren’t for the film being in Swedish, I would have asked myself, “Why am I watching this run-of-the-mill thriller?”
There is nothing special to take away from “The Girl Who Played with Fire.” The actors are never given a chance to shine and every aspect of the story is rushed — and at times ridiculous. It’s not a bad film, just a big let down after the unexpected high of “Dragon Tattoo.” I find it hard to find any other word besides generic to describe this film. It’s not poor, wonderful or even subpar — just generic. And in my opinion, generic just doesn’t cut it.