In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

The sequel to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and second chapter in the Millennium Trilogy, The Girl Who Played with Fire does lack the brutal intensity, sinister ambiance & sustained thrills of the original and is a definite tumble down the road but thanks to another excellent input from Noomi Rapace, this sequel isn't a complete disaster.Based on Stieg Larsson's novel of the same name, The Girl Who Played with Fire continues the story of Lisbeth Salander as she finds herself accused of murdering three people & goes on the run to evade arrest. But her path once again crosses with Mikael Blomkvist, who has been looking for her and does everything he can to find her before the authorities.Directed by Daniel Alfredson, the sequel to the highly acclaimed 2009 Swedish chiller does succeed in capturing the visual style & disturbing themes of its predecessor and has a few moments to its name but for the most part, it doesn't bring anything new to the story plus only ends up doing worse with what already were the shortcomings of the first chapter.Cinematography & refined set pieces are able to recreate the visual tone of the original but the sinister vibe is definitely missing plus the story feels static at times due to the dull pace provided by its shallow editing. However, Noomi Rapace shows no loss in form and delivers yet another fabulous performance in the role of Lisbeth Salander while Michael Nyqvist as Blomkvist supports her just fine.On an overall scale, The Girl Who Played with Fire dives into the brutal backstory of Lisbeth Salander's harrowing life but it lacks the freshness, aggression & suspense of the first film, and isn't as strong a beast as expected. Nevertheless, despite its confusing plot, tedious pace & lack of a proper resolution, The Girl Who Played with Fire is a decent follow-up that will satisfy most fans of the original, if not all.

It was not as good as the original, and that is counting the great love scene in Lisbeth's (Noomi Rapace) apartment with her girlfriend.It picks up where we left off last time, with the same characters, but it just didn't seem to have the magic of the original. Don't get me wrong. As a thriller, it keeps your interest throughout, especially when the blond German appears.Without CGI, it is a very good thriller in the vein of Three Days of the Condor, a personal favorite.We also get to see Lisbeth's back-story, which reveals itself in the process of finding out who murdered the three people she is blamed for killing.Hoping the next film returns to the class of the first.

I decided to go all-out and give myself the full Millennium experience by watching the TV miniseries (9 hours in total) over the space of three nights. As a result, these reviews are of the extended, three-hour editions of each film rather than the condensed, theatrical two-hour versions.THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE is a highly effective sequel that avoids the usual 'second film in a trilogy' syndrome. It's full of action and intriguing plot twists, and it takes hold of the original's storyline and builds and expands on it in a decent way.I wouldn't say it's better than the first film - it lacks the novelty of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, and it's very slightly less emotionally fulfilling - but it's nevertheless a superior piece of filmmaking. Bring on the third!

As soon as the "movie" begins, you discover that there's someone else behind the camera and that is a made for TV feature. The beautiful mineral cinematography of the first part is gone as well for a warmer palette. If you would stumble on it, you could think it's a German TV show as "Derrick" and if you haven't seen the first episode, it may be hard for you to understand. The first half hour is a bit boring but as soon as all the pieces have been set, it's a good thriller. I'm not an expert in this genre but i find this trilogy is very inventive but also too much written, this is to say luck or coincidence happened to often (fingerprints, fallen keys, ...). Worse, as in bad comic books (and already in part one), the bad guys are careless and prefer make a speech instead of finishing their business. Thus, they left alive the ones they wanted to kill and it's highly unbelievable, all the more that it happens twice in this movie.What's interesting however is that the author depicts crime against women in a very crude but realistic way. It's not the baroque drama of a lot of American movie. Also, for me, as the story happens in Stockholm, it gets personal because i went there (the garden cemetery, the embankment, the coffees,...) and we can see that Sweden is indeed a fine beautiful country. Noomi is very convincing again because as she has not much lines, she had to be very expressive. Her parter is astounding as well: looking a bit like our french icon, Jonhnny Halliday, and Russian icon, Vova, this unknown so far Mike Nyqvist worths to be recognized. His way of pairing strength, wit and compassion makes him a close brother of Liam Neeson. But the biggest surprise for me is that the duo doesn't work together again, because this time, each one works on each side. Thus, it can be good sequel and not a mere repetition and i wait impatiently for the last part.