It has been said over and over: all good things come to an end. This week, audiences will see the beginning of the end of the enormously popular Harry Potter series. Some writers are already suggesting that a best film Oscar nomination is possible for DEATHY HALLOWS. Of all the films I’ve seen this year, three left a deep impression on me: INCEPTION, THE SOCIAL NETWORK (likely this year’s best), and KICK ASS (my personal guilty pleasure, forget PILGRIM). I’ve not yet seen 127 HOURS but I’ve heard marvelous things.
But one trilogy of films that ends this month with a US release is really just the beginning. I’m talking about Stieg Larsson’s THE GIRL series. The third and final Swedish theatrical offering in the trilogy is currently playing art houses. The second and arguably worst of the series, THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE, is filling new release shelves in video stores and the first film has already made the rounds. Instead though of being the end of good thing, the third film is an harbinger of things to come.
THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST is a fitting ending to the series this time with less violence and a long explanation of the loose ends introduced in the previous films. For those who can’t remember, at end of the second movie super computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) went toe-to-toe with her evil father and her brutish half-brother only to find herself shot and left for dead. Of course, her father didn’t come out any better and her cowardly brother made a run for the hills. HORNET’S NEST picks up right where the second film left off as Lisbeth is life-flighted to a hospital where she is operated on to remove a bullet lodged in her brain!
Lisbeth, who sports a huge mohawk and lots of vicious piercings on the NEST movie poster, is one tough gal and in a few short months manages a full recovery. Meanwhile shifty forces seek once again to have her committed as being insane and incompetent. With less emphasis on action, HORNET’S NEST is like one big courtroom procedural. Even though Lisbeth was beaten and shot (at least twice) the authorities believe that she is insane and tried to kill her father. Therefore, she spends the entire movie in police custody waiting for her day in court. And on the outside Millennium magazine super journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) puts the full resources of his publication behind clearing Lisbeth’s name. And as Blomkvist and his team dig deep into Lisbeth’s past, evil characters rise from retirement to plan the Millennium team’s demise. I’m not kidding about retirement—this movie has a gun-totting grandpa hit man with a bad ticker. He’s slow on the draw but with deadly aim.
While some critics who have not warmed to the Millennium trilogy might complain about HORNET’S NEST’s length (it clocks in at almost 2 and a half hours), hard-core fans will be more than satisfied. This is a very detailed and entertaining conclusion leaving little for continued exploration. Of course, it’s not over, a Swedish TV series and several US remakes await. We’ve not heard the end of Lisbeth Salander!
