The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest is the third chapter in the Millennium series: after The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire. Stieg Larsson's adapted film trilogy has held a good consistency under Yellow Bird Productions with each part filmed within the same year much like a mini-series. The difference being that this series has been blocked off in sections denoting each book and the saga of Lisbeth Salander has been cemented by a career-defining performance by Noomi Rapace.
It becomes increasingly easier to see why a television series has been set in motion, given the layered and detailed nature of the various subplots at play. The audience isn't spoon-fed, but given the reins as a story detective piecing the puzzle together. It's not confusing in a Pulp Fiction time warp sort of way, there's just so much going on underground that you feel wrapped up in a cocoon, as if Daniel Alfredson, director of this concluding chapter, has opened several peepholes for us to peer out of. We get a stream of information, which seems choppy at first - yet all blends into one story strengthening like strands of a rope.
This is what makes The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest so gripping and as a result entertaining. The first part may be slightly slower than the first two chapters with Salander in recovery mode after a nasty encounter with her father, but the momentum builds as she becomes implicated in several murders and has to stay ahead of her "serial killer" brother, the undercover agency thwarting exposure at all costs and her harrowing past. Although this film splits the screen time between Salander and Nyqvist, giving equal attention to both of their journeys.
Salander is a heroine. She represents every victim and strikes back with a sting in her tail. Revenge plots are impassioned and the story of this girl has a wicked sweetness to it that makes it appealing to just about anyone that's been wronged. We are horrified by the injustice, perturbed by the consequences and rally behind Salander in relishing her victory in easing the pain and in punishing her assailants. Her targets are the most evil of evil, making it easy for us to take sides and watch them writhe and burn for their sins.
This is the fundamental attraction to the Millenium series... it captures the untamed side of us like a dragon, engenders inner turmoil like a fire and unleashes the piston-pumping anger on the source of our rage. The performances latch onto this fire-breathing premise with Rapace owning the role and Nyqvist turning in a solid performance as a subduing, calming influence. Rapace brings the fire and Nyqvist is like cool earth... dousing the anger, representing the flip side to the coin and redeeming the greater good of humanity as Mikael Blomkvist.
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest is more of a crime drama than a thriller and delivers on story, intensity and performances. There are one or two unintentionally funny moments, but this could be attributed to what's lost in translation. The fact that the film has been produced in Sweden only adds to the tension with Sweden being one of the most progressive advocates of gender equality in the world. This dark crime series may be too unsettling, violent and unrelenting for some, but at nearly two-and-a-half hours it's probably the most compelling crime saga you'll see this year.
The bottom line: Compelling.
