The filmmakers try doggedly to tell a decent story, though this endeavor is doomed to failure from the start. It was bad enough in the novel, and it gets worse here.
The Premise
Lisbeth wakes up in the same hospital as her father. There's a smear campaign going on against her, and it's all due to The Section, who are backing her father and was behind all the misfortune that happened to her as a kid. They kill off her father to keep their secrets, but it's a losing battle as Mikael Blomkvist is determined to blow the lid off this great conspiracy. It all culminates in a big courtroom battle where the truth is brought to light and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is finally vindicated.The Characters
Here, I've left out quite a few characters that appeared both in the novel and here, such as Birger Wadensjoo and Jonas Sandberg. Their contribution to the plot was too minor and to be honest, I didn't even notice them. The same could be said for Christer Malm and Elin Malikssen, but at least they're familiar faces, having been in the last two installments.Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander. What's left to say, honestly? If the last two installments haven't convinced you that Lisbeth Salander is a legitimate badass of a hacker, nothing in this film will do it. But this final film does show off more of her tender side, and Rapace carries that off quite handily.
Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomkvist. Nyqvist has a slightly reduced role here as much of his screen time is down to talking - investigation, negotiation and planning. He gets one action sequence where he has to fend off would-be assassins, and that's about it.
Lena Endre as Erika Berger. I was beginning to warm to her in the last movie, but in this one, she becomes, once again, some useless side character no one cares about. And I actually resent the amount of screen time she takes up! It's more the script's fault than the actress's, though.
Micke Spreitz as Ronald Neidermann. The scary big man does well here, killing and maiming his way across Sweden in order to escape the police. His final battle scene with Lisbeth is exquisite in its catharsis.
Anders Ahlbom as Peter Teleborian. Ahlbom delivers a solid showing as the creepy psychiatrist . He gets his comeuppance in court, and the payoff is every bit as satisfying onscreen as reading it in the novel.
Hans Alfredson as Evert Gullberg. Awesome, totally awesome. xxx plays him with a certain wistfulness wrapped in steel as he does what he deems necessary, sacrificing himself to protect the Section's secrets. I could be biased here. I mean, he is the dude who offed Zalachenko.
Lennart Hjulström as Fredrik Clinton. He's the puppet-master pulling the strings. Didn't do much for me, and the performance wasn't really memorable.
Aksel Morisse as Anders Jonasson. Had a good bedside manner like he did in the novel, but looked just a little too pretty. Other than that, well done. A likeable performance.
Georgi Staykov as Alexander Zalachenko. Still as smug and sinister. The actor made Zala getting shot in the head, one of the most satisfying scenes in the entire movie.
Johan Kylén as Jan Bublanski. Kylén labors through his performance dutifully, but his screen-time is limited to lots and lots of boring conversations.
Tanja Lorentzon as Sonia Modig. Sonia, too, is in this movie for no discernible reason other than to take over plot duties from characters that have been written out.
Magnus Krepper as Hans Faste. Nope, no use for him here. Not even as someone to dislike.
Niklas Hjulström as Richard Ekström. As the prosecutor in court, we see him go from unbearably smug and confident, to panic, to utright facepalm near the end. xxx makes him worth watching.
Annika Hallin as Annika Gianninni. The shot of her watching Lisbeth's rape on film was... decent, I guess. Only Michael Nyqvist did it much better. Other than that, she put up a really credible performance as the underestimated lawyer in the courtroom battle. Not as good as in the novel, but I'm keeping my expectations low.
Ralph Carlsson as Gunnar Bjorke. Got killed off, as in the novel. Not that I hated watching him, but it's a relief to move him off my mental stack.
Per Oscarsson as Holger Pamgren. His presence was more limited here than in the novel, but he served as a good anchor for Liseth Salander, reminding the audience that there are people that this woman has a soft spot for.
Tomas Köhler as Plague. Limited appearances aside, his presence in the film was all kinds of awesome. He shows up here and there, stealing evidence through his magic-like hackery and sneaking it to the right people.
Pelle Bolander as Sonny Nieminen. After getting his ass kicked in the last movie, he serves more as a plot device to finish off Ronald Neidermann.
Mirja Turestedt as Monica Figuerola. Firstly, she looks too much like Dolly Parton without the humongous boobs. Secondly, she doesn't look all that fit. That was her one defining point, that she's the one woman in the entire trilogy that can kick as much ass as Lisbeth. I sense a missed opportunity here.
Niklas Falk as Tomas Edklinth. Very little to do except drive the plot along and provide exposition. Maybe give viewers the sense that Mikael has friends in high places.
Michalis Koutsogiannakis as Dragan Armansky. The hawk-faced actor gets involved more heavily in the plot this time out, though mostly as a resource provider.
Sofia Ledarp as Malin Eriksson. Yawn. Seriously, why was she even included? Who did she offend?
Jacob Ericksson as Christer Malm. He gets a little more action here than poor Sofia Ledarp, who, after two movies, is still the walking talking equivalent of a potted plant.
The Mood
If you thought the previous film was draggy, this one gets worse as more characters and groups, with their own interests, are added into the mix. To be fair, the filmmakers truncated a large part of the extraneous details out, but even so, the film feels pretty bulky. A lot of this movie is indoor, with people talking in indoor voices. Moreso than the other two movies.What I liked
Looks like they cut out the entire sequence of Mikael tying Neidermann up and leaving him for the cops. In the film, Neidermann plays possum by lying on the road and kills two cops who investigate. I actually found the version of events in the novel rather unnecessary, so this is a nice change.Zalachenko's unbearably smug expression, right up to the point Gullberg pulls that gun on him. Excellent.
The scarily creepy grin on Lisbeth's face when she learns of her father's death. OMG, Noomi Rapace is superb.
This shot of Sonny Nieminen comforting the wife (or girlfriend?) of the treasurer whom Neidermann murdered. It's a very human touch and wasn't in the book. In the book, she's supposed to be dead.
Peter Teleborian trying to persuade Anders Jonasson to give up the file. Both actors pull this scene off magnificently - Anders Ahlbom acting smarmy and gravely condescending, and Morisse not giving an inch.
Mikael passes Anders Jonasson the blackberry, who in turn sneaks it directly to Lisbeth. In the novel, the process was a lot longer and more convoluted, and involved Mikael hiring somebody to place a wiFi transmitter in the next room. I like this change.
They made Peter Teleborian look really creepy. There's this scene where he interviews Lisbeth, and while Noomi Rapace is excellent as always the camerawork on Anders Ahlbom's face is truly unsettling.
This. This utterly awe-inducing shot of Lisbeth Salander in full goth getup appearing for her court date. Cue the music, because it is absolutely fucking awesome.
OMG, Plague is in the courthouse too?! I don't know if this happened in the novel too, but in any case, this speaks volumes about the depth of his friendship with Lisbeth. Plague is an antisocial introvert. It's been established that nothing short of a natural disaster will get him to leave home for more than a couple hours.
Nice cover. Book seems a little thin, though.
This sequence of Plague hacking Peter Teleborian's computer and recording his activity of accessing child porn. Full hacker glory!
The horrified look on the face of the judges' panel as they watch the video of Lisbeth getting raped. And the look on Ekström's face as he realizes that his case just got dealt a severe blow.
Instead of a new character (and actor) being introduced to take Peter Teleborian away, they just recycled Modig and Bublanski. Nicely done.
This very sweet montage of Lisbeth with Holger. We see her smile genuinely. Unlike most of the other times, it's not a smirk or a creepy grin.
The climatic showdown between Lisbeth and her half-brother in the abandoned building. All of it. It was truncated and not all the exciting bits in the novel were in there, but it served its purpose. You could even say they... nailed it. (hur hur)
What I didn't
Whoa! I thought Zalachenko had one foot amputated after Lisbeth set him on fire?
There's a lot of talking. I mean, like, a whole shitload of talking. Entire film seems to be panning from one conversation or meeting to the other.
It's my opinion that the producers tried to hard to cram all elements from the novel into the movie despite leaving out the plot points. Take Erika Berger's sideplot, for example. The entire thing was cut out, which is good. But bits and pieces of her getting harassed remain, though in the movie it's due to the machinations of The Section. What the hell for? As a shout-out to the novel?
Dammit, they cut out Curt Andersson and his heroic rescue of Mikael. Mikael still got rescued, but the film version feels a whole lot tamer.
Shit! They cut out the scene of Figuerola physically dominating Jonas Sandberg. I wanted to see that! And it would have been a simple thing to add in.
They replaced the judge with a female. This feels like change for the sake of change. One of the great things about this courtroom scene was that the judge was a male, and even from a man's perspective, he ruled in favor of Lisbeth.
Holger Palmgren doesn't appear in court. Double damn!
In the film's final scene, Mikael comes to visit Lisbeth in her apartment. But unlike the novel, she doesn't let him in. He leaves, and we cut to yet another shot of her smoking over the view of her apartment. Come on!
Conclusion
The finale feels like the train during rush hour - crammed with a lot of stuff with the viewer struggling to make sense of it all. Good luck if you're watching this one without having watched the other two. Though why anyone would do that, is beyond me. This is definitely a trilogy movie.One saving grace, though. At least the tech thriller bits, though not as plentiful as I'd have liked, have been kept in. The entire story was supposed to revolve around this techno chick and her scary hacker abilities, but only the first movie did that in full. The plot kind of veered into political/crime/courtroom drama in this one.
My Rating
6 / 10
R.I.P Michael Nyqvist. You weren't The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, but you were The Man Who Made It Worth Watching!
T___T
T___T
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