My wife is a constant reader and she spoke highly of the trilogy of novels, the second being the book this movie was made from. So now we are in the process of watching all three, which were apparently all filmed in succession over about 18 months. This is actually our last one, we watched the third one first. We watched with the dubbed English sound track. The dubbing is done very well, fairly closely matching the mouth movements.
Noomi Rapace is of course back as Lisbeth Salander. We see in flashbacks some of the things in her early life that caused her to be sent to a mental facility for youngsters. After the first movie she made herself scarce with all the money she obtained, and spent a year or two hanging out in various parts of the world.
Michael Nyqvist too is back, as investigative reported Mikael Blomkvist, working for Millennium. He has served his 3 months' jail time for the conviction covered in the first story. This time they have been tracking a big story, implicating many high up officials and businessmen in sex trafficking. But as they go about giving those accused a chance to make a statement, being careful he doesn't set himself for another prison term, three key people turn up murdered.
As luck would have it, Lisbeth's finger prints are on the weapon used, from an episode where she went into the owner's home at night to "reinforce" her demands. So she quickly becomes the prime suspect and goes on the run. Blomkvist knows she is not guilty and goes about proving it the best way, finding the actual killers.
In some ways I actually enjoyed this second movie better than the first, especially for the ending scenes, which also serve to set up number 3. The critic Ebert has a good, complete review.
SPOILERS: When Lisbeth follows a courier from a mail pickup at a PO box she was watching, it takes her to the remote farm where the real killers are, her father who she had burned badly when she was 12, and her half-brother that she didn't know about. Outside, in the dark, as they are about to execute her, she throws dirt into their faces, tries to run, but her dad shoots her 2 or three times, and they bury her, taken for dead. The next morning she is in the barn, bleeding, wounded and dirty, when her dad goes to investigate a noise. She gets the best of him with an axe, the last blow embedded in his leg. Blomqvist shows up to get her to the hospital as the big dude manages to run away. This sets up the opening of the third movie, where Lisbeth and her dad are both in the hospital.
Noomi Rapace is of course back as Lisbeth Salander. We see in flashbacks some of the things in her early life that caused her to be sent to a mental facility for youngsters. After the first movie she made herself scarce with all the money she obtained, and spent a year or two hanging out in various parts of the world.
Michael Nyqvist too is back, as investigative reported Mikael Blomkvist, working for Millennium. He has served his 3 months' jail time for the conviction covered in the first story. This time they have been tracking a big story, implicating many high up officials and businessmen in sex trafficking. But as they go about giving those accused a chance to make a statement, being careful he doesn't set himself for another prison term, three key people turn up murdered.
As luck would have it, Lisbeth's finger prints are on the weapon used, from an episode where she went into the owner's home at night to "reinforce" her demands. So she quickly becomes the prime suspect and goes on the run. Blomkvist knows she is not guilty and goes about proving it the best way, finding the actual killers.
In some ways I actually enjoyed this second movie better than the first, especially for the ending scenes, which also serve to set up number 3. The critic Ebert has a good, complete review.
SPOILERS: When Lisbeth follows a courier from a mail pickup at a PO box she was watching, it takes her to the remote farm where the real killers are, her father who she had burned badly when she was 12, and her half-brother that she didn't know about. Outside, in the dark, as they are about to execute her, she throws dirt into their faces, tries to run, but her dad shoots her 2 or three times, and they bury her, taken for dead. The next morning she is in the barn, bleeding, wounded and dirty, when her dad goes to investigate a noise. She gets the best of him with an axe, the last blow embedded in his leg. Blomqvist shows up to get her to the hospital as the big dude manages to run away. This sets up the opening of the third movie, where Lisbeth and her dad are both in the hospital.