The Girl Who Played with Fire

Those who had a shit-fit with the series finale of THE SOPRANOS will be pulling their bloody hair out when they see how this second part of the Stieg Larsson MILLENNIUM series. On the upside it doesn't look like we'll have to wait long for the North American release of THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST but the cliff hanger they use here, or should I say "broken film reel" drove me so nuts I'm tempted to say if you've not seen the first wait for the whole kit and kaboodle to be available or find a good bootleg source and grab the last instalment BEFORE checking out the cinema. As far as FIRE goes, it's one damn convoluted mess of a picture, stylish for sure but it looks like something is missing and I'm not buying that whole "you have to read the book to make sense of it" bit. It's a movie.....it should be able to stand on it's own legs. Speaking of legs, Noomi Rapace is back swinging those pretty ones of hers and when you boil it down this is the only reason the series works at all. Like I said about THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, it's only special because of the characters of which she is the main one. I enjoyed Daniel Alfreson's directing and he not only directs HORNET but a spin-of television set which will no doubt be released here shortly after the final hits the screen. I'm not going to pan this one but no need to run to the cineplex to catch it and perhaps it will make a bot more sense when you have the last piece in hand.