Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: The Girl Who Played with Fire/Flickan Som Lekte med Elden (2009)

8/20/2023

The Girl Who Played with Fire/Flickan Som Lekte med Elden (2009) - Sloppy, overlong seconds

♥♥

An assured Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander in dark, punky robes and hair smokes a cigarette against a car in flames, seemingly unworried, on this poster for Daniel Alfredson's The Girl Who Played with Fire

Renegade hacker Lisbeth Salander returns to Stockholm after a year abroad and is soon accused of 3 murders. They are related to Mikael Blomkvist's new, controversial edition of the Millennium magazine, which sheds light on human trafficking.

The Girl Who Played with Fire is written by Jonas Frykberg (Detaljer (2003)), adapting the same-titled 2006 novel by Stieg Larsson (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo/Män Som Hatar Kvinnor (2005)), and directed by Daniel Alfredson (Roseanna (1993)). It is the 2nd film in the Millennium tilogy, based on Larsson's novel trilogy. The English title is a literal translation of the original Swedish title.

If you watch the extended 180 minute version of this, available on home video, beware that it is not only almost an hour longer than the original theatrical cut, it is also at least an hour overlong! It completely loses its suspense in its second half. Here the plot also grows foolish, SPOILER as we recognize that the film's villain is the blond ex-boxer, who is not very frightening. Along comes Salander's face-melted father, - and a half-brother who can't feel pain. The dad turns out to be a Russian spy, while Lisbeth herself can get buried alive and shot again and again - yet live!

The good opening maneuvers are lost on a fatally loose grip on the thriller, with just about every shot in the film labored with some 'fat' that should have been cut from it. Also cinematically, Alfredson's sequel is a far step from the quality and wealth of detail that enriched the fine first film.

Millennium trilogy: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo/Män Som Hatar Kvinnor (2009) - An exciting adult ride in sadism and mystery from cold cold Sweden

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Reportedly 4 mil. €, approximately 4.35 mil. $

Box office: 67.1 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 15.42 times its cost)

[The Girl Who Played with Fire was released 18 September (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland) and runs 129 minutes. Shooting took place in Portugal and Sweden, including in Stockholm. The film opened #11 to a 904k $ first weekend in 108 theaters in North America, where it peaked in 178 theaters but didn't achieve a higher ranking, grossing 7.6 mil. $ (11.3 % of the total gross). The film's 3 biggest markets were Sweden with 14.4 mil. $ (21.5 %), Denmark with 11.9 mil. $ (17.7 %) and Norway with 7.8 mil. $ (11.6 %). It was nominated for a European Film award. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to 3 notches over this one. Alfredson returned with The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest/Luftslottet Som Sprängdes (2009), the final film in the Millennium trilogy. Noomi Rapace (Bright (2017)) returned in that film; Michael Nyqvist (Colonia (2015)) first in Bröllopsfotografen (2009). The Girl Who Played with Fire is fresh at 69 % with a 6.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Girl Who Played with Fire?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (6-24)

8/20/2023

The Girl Who Played with Fire/Flickan Som Lekte med Elden (2009) - Sloppy, overlong seconds

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