The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

At the beginning of part three of critically lauded Millennium Trilogy, Lisbeth (Rapace), an introverted and victimised computer hacker and one of the most charismatic creations to appear on screen in years, is carried into hospital with a bullet in her head. When, and if, she ever wakes up she will be wrongly charged with the attempted murder of her own father. Crusading journalist, Mikael Blomkvist, toils to prove her innocence and begins to tug at the strings of a conspiracy that stretches right to the heart of Sweden’s dark social order.

As the titular Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest, Rapace carries the weight of the entire trilogy on her slender shoulder. And though her screen time is sadly limited by the fact that she spends much of the opening lying in a hospital bed, when she is finally back on her feet she delivers a phenomenal and tortured performance. Unable, or unwilling, to trust or empathize with others, her face remains an unyielding blank. When Rapace unleashes so much as a half-smile – the effect is devastating. And Michael Nyqvist, as Blomquist, is every bit her match as the understated foil to Lisbeth’s volatile one-woman army.

As a stand alone film it is an exhilarating ride, and if you have invested time into the previous films then the finale will leave you utterly satisfied. This is every bit a match for the acclaimed opener, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Soon to get the Hollywood treatment in the upcoming remake by Fight Club’s David Fincher with Daniel Craig signed on as Mikael, this is your chance to see the outstanding original and the conclusion to one of the finest thriller trilogies to come out of European cinema in recent memory.

Alex Riddle