The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest/Luftslottet som Sprängdes (2009) - Alfredson's yawn-worthy Millennium conclusion

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Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander, again smoking on a poster for a film, this time for Daniel Alfredson's The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest

While avenging angel hacker Lisbeth Salander recuperates and readies herself for trial, Michael Blomkvist continues to investigate the case as a journalist and during his digging through the System reveals a secret branch of the Swedish Security Police.

 

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest is written by Ulf Ryberg (Headhunters (2011)) and Jonas Frykberg (Detalker (2003)), adapting the same-titled 2007 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 third and final film in the Millennium trilogy, based on Larsson's Millennium novel trilogy. The original title translates to, 'the air castle that was blown up', with the 'air castle' being a Scandinavian idiom that refers to a pipe dream.

The film is tiring in length, centering on the 'section' of the Security Police, which remains deeply mystical and hazy. Just as the second film, The Girl Who Played with Fire (2009), also by Alfredson, this one drifts around. 

There are good trial scenes, and Anders Ahlbom Rosendahl (Wallander (2006, TV-series)) is good as hospital administrator and crook Dr. Teleborian. But The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest also involuntarily shows Sweden and the Swedes, (along with Michael Nyqvist's (John Wick (2014)) hero Micke), as a foolishly naive country and people. (True to reality in some ways.)

 

Related posts:

 

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

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 movie here

Cost: Reportedly 5.3 mil. $

Box office: 44.2 mil. $

= Mega-hit (returned 8.33 times its cost)

[The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest was released 27 November (Denmark, Sweden, Norway) and runs 147 minutes. Shooting took place in Sweden, including in Stockholm. The film opened #13 to an 881k $ first weekend in 154 theaters in North America, where it peaked in 208 theaters but didn't achieve a higher ranking, grossing 5.1 mil. $ (11.5 % of the total gross). The film's 3 biggest markets were Sweden with 10 mil. $ (22.6 %), Denmark with 9 mil. $ (20.4 %) and Norway with 5.2 mil. (11.8 %). Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, translating to 2 notches over this one. Alfredson returned with Odjuret (2012, TV movie) and theatrically with Skumtimmen (2013). Noomi Rapace (Prometheus (2012)) returned in Beyond/Svinalängorna (2010); Nyqvist in The Woman Who Dreamt of a Man/Kvinden Der Drømte Om en Mand (2010). The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest is rotten at 53 % with a 5.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest?

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

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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. 

 

Related post:

 

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?

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011) - Cruise and Bird's phenomenal action spectacle

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1 Time Film Excess Award Winner:

Best Digital Effects

3 Time Film Excess Nominee:

Best Sound (lost to Drive)
Best Practical Effects (lost to Haywire) 
Best Digital Effects (won)

+ Best Action Movie of the Year
+ Best Blockbuster of the Year

Tom Cruise on the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, for Brad Bird's Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

Ethan Hunt gets helped out of a Russian prison to infiltrate the Kremlin, which, nevertheless, gets blown up and robbed of its nuclear weapons' codes. Fired by the US government, Hunt and three colleagues will now have to save world peace!

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is the 4th entry in the Tom Cruise-starring (War of the Worlds (2005)) franchise that is based on the Mission: Impossible (1966-73) TV-series, created by Bruce Geller (Have Gun - Will Travel (1958-63)).
The action sequences, in Dubai and in India in particular, are spectacular: Cruise, as usual, actually did most of his own stunts, including crawling on the Burj Khalifa (with safety wires that were erased digitally.) Fellow ass-kicker Paula Patton (Deja Vu (2006)) and Léa Seydoux (The Lobster (2015)) also did their own stunts in their intense fight scene. 
The new gadgets introduced are fresh and fun, and Cruise, who is in absolute top shape, and the rest of the cast are outstanding: Simon Pegg (Absolutely Anything (2015)) is funny; Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker (2008)) acts well, and Michael Nyqvist (John Wick (2014)) is frightening as a Breivik-reminiscent lunatic villain.
Brad Bird (Tomorrowland: A World Beyond (2015)) has directed M:I 4 as his first live-action movie after heading The Iron Giant (1999), The Incredibles (2004)) and Ratatouille (2007), and it is undeniably an impressive debut for him.
Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014), both) have co-written the script, and the plot simply sticks.
M:I 4 is a brilliant spy action movie, and perhaps the franchise's best, (a position that is only challenged by John Woo's great Mission: Impossible II (2000)).

Related posts:

 

Brad Bird: 2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess
The Incredibles (2004) - Unwanted animation action slam-dunk

Watch the awesome trailer for the movie here

Cost: 145 mil. $
Box office: 694.7 mil. $
= Big hit
[M:I 4 was a phenomenal success, the highest-grossing film of the franchise and of all Cruise's starring vehicles. It made 209.3 mil. $ (30 % of the total gross) in the US with its most important markets after that being China with a gross of 102.5 mil. $ (15 %) and Japan with a gross of 69.7 mil. $ (10 %). Cruise has thrown himself into new, hair-raising stunts for the inevitable M:I 5, including hanging onto an airplane taking off and staying underwater without oxygen for a reported 6 minutes (!) for an elaborate underwater action scene. It comes out in July/August and is called Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015).]

What do you think of Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol?
Rank the M:I movies

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

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+ Best Danish Movie of the Year + Best Thriller of the Year

Danish poster for Niels Arden Oplev's Mænd Der Hader Kvinder [Men Who Hate Women]

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was a movie event a few years back; the first adaptation in Swede Stieg Larsson's bestselling thriller Millennium trilogy, the first movie (and the following two) were anticipated immensely in the Scandinavian countries especially, where the books had been ripped from the bookshelves since their publication in 2005. It was seen by 6 mil. in cinemas in Scandinavia before being sold to 25 countries outside Scandinavia.
And the reason, happily, is also that Dragon Tattoo is a very good thriller.
It is about a radical journalist, Blomkvist, who is readying himself for some jail time by taking a lucrative job for the head of a large, Swedish corporation. The job is to find the man's niece, who he believes was killed when she vanished 40 years earlier. To do the job, Blomkvist gets assistance and eventually shares an intimate bond with the young hacker outcast Lisbeth Salander. 
The story is always wired with a kind of electric current so that you're always sure that it is moving forward, - which is essential for a suspense-filled thriller like this one. For a long time, the two protagonists' lives have not cross, and the case doesn't offer visceral suspense yet. - The filmmakers' solution is to delve into the Salander character, who is familiar with violence and has a dismal relation to her sadistic legal guardian. In the (quite gruesome) storyline, her own possible sadism is also touched upon, - something that becomes a powerful theme in the rest of the film: Sadism and punishment and the line between the two, which can be very thin indeed.
Dragon Tattoo has several nice touches, and some of my favorite parts of it have to do with its look. It gets its distinctive, very right (for the type of movie) look very right several times; especially I relish the scene when employer Vanger introduces some of his family members, all more or less vile human reptiles, and tells Blomkvist that they are all suspects. It is classical thriller/whodunnit-establishment, but with the modern, sleek look in Dragon Tattoo that little scene becomes quite memorable. Locations, visual design and casting are spot-on, as is filming and the effective thriller score by Jacob Groth (Headhunters (2009)).

Sven-Bertil Taube and Michael Nyqvist in a scene with the fine look of Niels Arden Oplev's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

The details:

The investigation of the old possible murder case quickly turns into a hunt for a serial killer with dark and disturbing ramifications and pictures along the way. Fans of David Fincher's Se7en (1995) can see one of the best new entries in the genre since the modern thriller classic here. - Fincher was also the man for the American remake, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011), but for anyone who do not immediately get a rash from hearing a foreign tongue spoken, that film is surely absolutely redundant.
The strong pole that truly makes our attention stick to the lengthy Dragon Tattoo is the Salander-character, who we delve into and try to discover along with Blomkvist. She is a fascinating and full character, - intriguing and someone we do not feel that we are done with yet, - which is pivotal for the interest in the two remaining films. Most who see Dragon Tattoo will be interested in the two next chapters. Noomi Rapace (Passion (2012)) plays the strong, antisocial part perfectly believable, and she broke through to international stardom as a result. Michael Nyqvist (Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)), who plays the inarguable less interesting Blomkvist, also does well and has gotten work out of the trilogy as well, but his character is just less of a smash.
Dragon Tattoo is not a perfect film, and its main problem is that it's too lengthy. Bountiful shots of computer screens and smoking could easily have been reduced, and the ending is also a bit self-indulgent in length. Still, it is solid storytelling, visually a treat (and wonderfully bereft of Dogme-like hand-held cameras) and a very good thriller.
The director is Danish Niels Arden Oplev (Fukssvansen (2001)), who got to do Dead Man Down (2013) in Hollywood because of Dragon Tattoo, - and failed miserably. He is working on a Danish film now, Kapgang. Lets see if he ever returns to the other end of the big pond again.


Related posts:


2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
 

International poster for the film with the international title, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Watch the exciting - and hyperbolic - international thriller trailer here

Budget: 13 mil. $
Box office: 104.3 mil. $
= Huge hit

What do you think of this film and the following two?
If you've also seen Fincher's American remake, how do you feel about that in comparison to the original?