'The Girl Who Played With Fire' clever and gripping
Director: Daniel Alfredson
Cast: Noomi Rapace, Peter Anderson, Michael Nyqvist, Micke Speritz
Cert: 16
The grim and darkly atmospheric thrillers based on Swedish writer Stieg Larsson’s trilogy move onward with the quirky, and somewhat sinister, computer hacker Lisbeth (the mesmerising Rapace) returning home after a year away to work again with magazine editor Mikael (Nyqvist) on a sex scandal story that reaches the top of local society.
Mikael has been tipped off by a young reporter that important people have been trafficking young girls, but things take a nasty turn when the young reporter and his girlfriend are murdered and Lisbeth becomes number one suspect, going on the run while Mikael searches for the truth.
On one level we have a conventional police procedural drama but – while not quite as gripping as 'Dragon Tatoo' which introduced us to the characters – Alfredson does cleverly move his players along by filling in their background and towards what promises to be a classic conclusion.
Star Rating: 4/5
