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The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest

By Patrick Samuel • January 6th, 2013
Static Mass Rating: 3/5
THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST (MOVIE)
Zodiak Entertainment

Original release: November 27th, 2009
Running time: 80 147 minutes

Country of origin: Sweden
Original language: Swedish

Director: Daniel Alfredson
Writers: Ulf Rydberg, Stieg Larsson

Cast: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest

In movies, the concluding part of a trilogy is often something we wait many years for. Sometimes we may not even realise we’re waiting for it until it arrives. For fans of the Millennium series though, adapted for the screen from the novels by the late writer Stieg Larsson, we didn’t have to wait that long. After the success of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, directed by Niels Arden Oplev, the Swedish film production company Yellow Bird went on to co-produce with Nordisk Film The Girl Who Played With Fire, directed by Daniel Alfredson, and this final instalment, also directed by Alfredson. All three films arrived within just a short span of time in Scandinavia during 2009.

Picking up after the events in The Girl Who Played With Fire where we last
saw our heroine Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Repace) shot in the head and left for dead, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest opens with her (Noomi Rapace) being airlifted to hospital with Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) by her side.

Lisbeth’s taken to intensive care where they try to retrieve the bullet lodged in her brain, but a few doors down the corridor lies her father, the evil Zalachenko (Georgi Staykov), hospitalised for the injuries he sustains after his meeting with his daughter. After her surgery Lisbeth remains in hospital recovering before facing trial for three murders and one attempted murder. Blomkvist is once again on her side and is determined to clear her name no matter the cost to himself or his colleagues. His sister Annika (Annika Hallin) begins working as Lisbeth’s lawyer.

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest

Meanwhile, the men who previously covered up for Zalachenko decide its time to tie up the loose ends and they send in someone to silence both him and Lisbeth. When they only half succeed in their attempt, they start targeting the Millennium Group members. They also send in Dr. Peter Teleborian (Anders Ahlbom) to perform a psychological analysis with the intention of diagnosing Lisbeth as mentally incompetent so they can put her away, just as they did when she was 13 years old. Lisbeth’s half-brother, the psychopath Niedermann (Micke Spreitz) is still at large and leaving behind a trail of bodies as he bides his time, hoping for another chance to finish what he was meant to do.

With so many plotlines coming together for the last time, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest builds to the conclusion of an enthralling story that introduced us to an iconic character that’s come to mean so much for so many. From everything The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nestwe’ve seen Lisbeth suffer at the hands of powerful and corrupt men, we finally get to see justice served, but there are quite some plot points which fail to make sense.

For example, Mikael is called as a key witness in Lisbeth’s defence, but with his sister serving as defence lawyer, there seems to be a conflict of interest here. Further on in the film, Annika’s drawn up a list of all of Zalachenko’s estates and holdings yet the police never check them out despite the fact that Niedermann is still at large. And let’s not leave out the beginning with both the shooter and his victim a few doors down from each other at the hospital without any security standing on guard.

These are just a few loose points I found with the story, but despite these, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest is definitely a film worth seeing if you’ve already become engrossed in the Millennium story so far. It’s Lisbeth’s final stand and it’s unapologetic, brutal and compelling.

Patrick Samuel

Patrick Samuel

The founder of Static Mass Emporium and one of its Editors in Chief is an emerging artist with a philosophy degree, working primarily with pastels and graphite pencils, but he also enjoys experimenting with water colours, acrylics, glass and oil paints.

Being on the autistic spectrum with Asperger’s Syndrome, he is stimulated by bold, contrasting colours, intricate details, multiple textures, and varying shades of light and dark. Patrick's work extends to sound and video, and when not drawing or painting, he can be found working on projects he shares online with his followers.

Patrick returned to drawing and painting after a prolonged break in December 2016 as part of his daily art therapy, and is now making the transition to being a full-time artist. As a spokesperson for autism awareness, he also gives talks and presentations on the benefits of creative therapy.

Static Mass is where he lives his passion for film and writing about it. A fan of film classics, documentaries and science fiction, Patrick prefers films with an impeccable way of storytelling that reflect on the human condition.

Patrick Samuel ¦ Asperger Artist

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