''The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest'' () is a 2009 Swedish-Danish
crime thriller film
Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as drama or gangster film, but al ...
with German co-production directed by
Daniel Alfredson
Hans Daniel Björn Alfredson (born 23 May 1959 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a Swedish film director who is best known for directing film versions of two parts of the '' Millennium Trilogy'': '' The Girl Who Played with Fire''
and '' The Girl Wh ...
from a screenplay by
Ulf Rydberg and produced by
Søren Stærmose, based on the 2007
novel of the same name by Swedish writer
Stieg Larsson
Karl Stig-Erland "Stieg" Larsson (, ; 15 August 1954 – 9 November 2004) was a Swedish writer, journalist, and far-left activist. He is best known for writing the ''Millennium'' trilogy of crime novels, which were published posthumously, sta ...
, the third entry in his
''Millennium'' series. Starring
Noomi Rapace
Noomi Rapace (; ; born 28 December 1979) is a Swedish actress.Karen Olsson, ''The New York Times Magazine'', 27 May 2012, p. 26. She achieved international fame with her portrayal of Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish film adaptations of the ''Mil ...
and
Michael Nyqvist
Rolf Åke Mikael Nyqvist (; 8 November 1960 – 27 June 2017) was a Swedish actor. Educated at the School of Drama in Malmö, he became well known for playing police officer Banck in the 1997–1998 Martin Beck TV series and for his leading role ...
, it was the third and final installment of the film series, released two months following ''
The Girl Who Played with Fire''. It also marked the final film appearance of
Per Oscarsson
Per Oscar Heinrich Oscarsson (28 January 1927 – 31 December 2010) was a Swedish actor. He is best known for his role in the 1966 film ''Hunger'', which earned him a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor.
Early life
Oscarsson was born, alo ...
, who died in a house fire on 31 December 2010.
Plot
The film begins at the conclusion of ''
The Girl Who Played with Fire''. Computer hacker
Lisbeth Salander
Lisbeth Salander is a fictional character created by Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson in his award-winning Millennium (novel series), ''Millennium'' series. She first appeared in the 2005 novel ''The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'', as a ...
is airlifted to a hospital in
Gothenburg
Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...
to recover from gunshot wounds inflicted by her father, crime boss Alexander Zalachenko. Journalist
Mikael Blomkvist
Mikael Blomkvist is a fictional character created by Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson. He is a main character of Larsson's award-winning ''Millennium'' series, along with Lisbeth Salander.
Profile
Name
Larsson stated in interviews ...
, who Salander helped on a previous case, resumes his efforts to clear her of several murder charges, knowing that she was framed by the "Section", a group within the
Swedish Security Service
The Swedish Security Service ( , SÄPO , , formerly , RPS/Säk, until 1989) is a Sweden, Swedish Government agencies in Sweden, government agency organized under the Ministry of Justice (Sweden), Ministry of Justice. It operates as a security ...
that illegally sheltered Zalachenko after he defected from the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
.
Section members Evert Gullberg and Fredrik Clinton decide to silence Zalachenko and Salander to preserve their secrets. Gullberg arrives at the hospital and kills Zalachenko, but is unable to reach Salander; he then commits suicide. Clinton plans to have Salander recommitted to the mental hospital where the Section had her institutionalized as a child after she nearly killed Zalachenko. His collaborator in this plan is Dr. Peter Teleborian, the hospital's administrator, who "treated" the young Salander by putting her in restraints for the smallest infractions.
Blomkvist persuades her doctor to sneak an
Internet phone
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also known as IP telephony, is a set of technologies used primarily for voice communication sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. VoIP enables voice calls to be transmitted as ...
into Salander's room, whereupon Salander contacts her fellow hacker, Plague, to see if he can find something on Teleborian. She then tells Blomkvist that Annika Giannini, her lawyer and Blomkvist's sister, has permission to use a video showing her state-appointed guardian Nils Bjurman raping her; Bjurman, a former Section employee, is one of the people she is accused of murdering.
Ronald Niedermann, Zalachenko's son and enforcer who previously tried to kill Salander's girlfriend Miriam, remains a fugitive, wanted for killing a police officer. Sonny, a member of an outlaw motorcycle gang Salander encountered in the previous film, learns that Niedermann went to his home to hide out. There, Sonny finds his brother dead and his girlfriend badly injured. She tells him that Niedermann was the culprit, and Sonny vows revenge.
On the day of her murder trial, Salander enters court with
piercings, a
mohawk, black makeup, and black leather clothing. Called as an expert witness for the prosecution, Teleborian characterizes Salander as delusional and violent; but Giannini gradually demolishes his credibility, using Salander's words and files from the hospital. She also presents the video proving Bjurman raped Salander.
As Giannini presents her case, the police arrest the people involved with the Section and seize their place of operation. In court, Blomkvist and Giannini prove that Teleborian made a false diagnosis on orders from the Section, and that the evidence against her was planted. Teleborian is then arrested for possession of
child pornography
Child pornography (also abbreviated as CP, also called child porn or kiddie porn, and child sexual abuse material, known by the acronym CSAM (underscoring that children can not be deemed willing participants under law)), is Eroticism, erotic ma ...
, which Plague discovered after hacking into his laptop. The court releases Salander.
Salander checks on a property she has inherited from her father and discovers the warehouse where her half-brother Niedermann is hiding. He tries to kill her, but she nails his feet to the floor with a nail gun. She calls Sonny and tells the bikers where to find him, and then calls the police.
Blomkvist visits Salander to tell her that the motorcycle gang killed Niedermann and were arrested at the warehouse afterward. They then reconcile and go their separate ways.
Cast
*
Noomi Rapace
Noomi Rapace (; ; born 28 December 1979) is a Swedish actress.Karen Olsson, ''The New York Times Magazine'', 27 May 2012, p. 26. She achieved international fame with her portrayal of Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish film adaptations of the ''Mil ...
as
Lisbeth Salander
Lisbeth Salander is a fictional character created by Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson in his award-winning Millennium (novel series), ''Millennium'' series. She first appeared in the 2005 novel ''The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'', as a ...
**
Tehilla Blad as young Lisbeth Salander
*
Michael Nyqvist
Rolf Åke Mikael Nyqvist (; 8 November 1960 – 27 June 2017) was a Swedish actor. Educated at the School of Drama in Malmö, he became well known for playing police officer Banck in the 1997–1998 Martin Beck TV series and for his leading role ...
as
Mikael Blomkvist
Mikael Blomkvist is a fictional character created by Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson. He is a main character of Larsson's award-winning ''Millennium'' series, along with Lisbeth Salander.
Profile
Name
Larsson stated in interviews ...
*
Lena Endre
Lena Endre (born 8 July 1955) is a Swedish actress of film and television,* primarily in the Swedish and Norwegian markets, known for her parts in the Liv Ullmann film '' Trolösa'' (2000), and the ''Millennium'' series of films (e.g., ''The G ...
as Erika Berger, editor of ''Millennium''
*
Annika Hallin
Annika Susanne Hallin is a Swedish actress. She was born in Hägersten, Stockholm, and studied at the Swedish National Academy of Mime and Acting 1995 – 1999. In 2001 Hallin was one of those who started ''Teater Nova''. She was married to ...
as Annika Giannini, a lawyer and sister of Mikael Blomkvist
*
Sofia Ledarp as Malin Eriksson
*
Jacob Ericksson as Christer Malm, photographer of ''Millennium''
*
Georgi Staykov as Alexander Zalachenko ("Zala")
*
Aksel Morisse as Dr. Anders Jonasson
*
Niklas Hjulström as Prosecutor Richard Ekström
*
Micke Spreitz as Ronald Niedermann
*
Anders Ahlbom as Dr. Peter Teleborian
*
Hans Alfredson
Hans Folke "Hasse" Alfredson (28 June 1931 – 10 September 2017) was a Swedish actor, film director, writer, and comedian. Born in Malmö, Sweden, he is known for his collaboration with Tage Danielsson as the duo Hasse & Tage and their produ ...
as Evert Gullberg, former head of "The Section"
*
Lennart Hjulström
Lennart Hjalmar Hjulström (18 July 1938 – 3 July 2022) was a Swedish actor and director. He was married to Gunilla Nyroos and father of Niklas and Carin Hjulström. His father was Filip Hjulström.
Partial filmography
*1983: '' Berget ...
as Fredrik Clinton, former head of "The Section" after Gullberg
*
Carl-Åke Eriksson as Bertil Janeryd
*
Per Oscarsson
Per Oscar Heinrich Oscarsson (28 January 1927 – 31 December 2010) was a Swedish actor. He is best known for his role in the 1966 film ''Hunger'', which earned him a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor.
Early life
Oscarsson was born, alo ...
as Holger Palmgren
*
Michalis Koutsogiannakis as Dragan Armansky
*
Mirja Turestedt as Monica Figuerola
*
Johan Kylén as Police Inspector Jan Bublanski
*
Tanja Lorentzon
Tanja Mirjam Cecilia Lorentzon (née Tanja Mirjam Cecilia Koukonen; born 25 September 1971), previously known as Tanja Svedjeström, is a Sweden-Finnish actress and dramatist of Finnish descent. Internationally, she is probably best known for h ...
as Sonja Modig
*
Alexandra Hummingson as murder victim
Release
The film was released in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark on 29 November 2009, and in Finland and Iceland in January 2010.
The film was subsequently released in other European countries throughout the spring and summer of 2010. The film opened the
Scottsdale (Arizona) International Film Festival on 1 October 2010, and was screened on 13 October 2010 at the
Mill Valley (California) Film Festival; the film then had a limited release in United States and Canadian theaters beginning 29 October 2010.
Reception
''The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest'' received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregation website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
gave the film a score of 53% based on 125 reviews, with an average score of 5.8/10, the consensus being, "Slow and mostly devoid of the stellar chemistry between its two leads, ''The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest'' is a disappointingly uneven conclusion to the ''Millennium'' trilogy."
Despite the low rating, the film did receive positive reviews from such noteworthy critics as
Peter Travers
Peter Joseph Travers (born June 27, 1943) is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for ''People'' and ''Rolling Stone''. Travers also hosts the film i ...
,
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli (born September 25, 1967) is an American film critic. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ''ReelViews.'' Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of reviews of movies on ...
, and
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
, who gave the film three out of four stars, stating, "These are all very well-made films. Like most European films, they have adults who are grown-ups, not arrested adolescents. Mikael and Erika, his boss and lover, have earned the lines in their faces, and don't act like reckless action heroes. They make their danger feel so real to us that we realize the heroes of many action movies don't really believe they're in any danger at all."
Reviewing the original Swedish version in national daily newspaper ''
Svenska Dagbladet
(, "The Swedish Daily News"), abbreviated SvD, is a daily List of Swedish newspapers, newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden.
History and profile
The first issue of appeared on 18 December 1884. During the beginning of the 1900s the pap ...
'', Jan Söderqvist is dismissive of the thin plot: his article is titled 'No, it doesn't last the distance', and laments that "the whole responsibility for carrying this grandiose production rests on Lisbeth Salander's slender shoulders".
But Söderqvist remains enthusiastic about Rapace and her character, Lisbeth Salander: "Salander is, on the other hand, undeniably an original and fascinating character, full of possibilities and secrets, and if Noomi Rapace builds an international acting career on these three films I have nothing to say against it."
Söderqvist continues: "There is an enticing darkness in her glance and a brittle hardness about her defences that more than matches her tattoos."
Maaret Koskinen, reviewing the film in Sweden's national daily ''
Dagens Nyheter
(, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record
A newspaper of record is a major nationa ...
'', found it a pity "that the subsequent ''Millennium'' films dribble away a given golden opportunity" and "devalue an unprecedented accumulation of popular cultural capital."
All that remains in the third section, writes Koskinen, is a skeleton (of the book's power). Besides, she notes, "one sees Noomi Rapace far too little."
Notes
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest, The
Millennium (novel series) adaptations
2009 films
2009 crime thriller films
2009 LGBTQ-related films
2000s mystery thriller films
Danish crime thriller films
Danish sequel films
Films about female bisexuality
Films about journalists
Films based on crime novels
Films based on mystery novels
Films based on Swedish novels
Films based on thriller novels
Films set in Stockholm
Films shot in Stockholm
Films directed by Daniel Alfredson
German crime thriller films
German films about revenge
German mystery thriller films
German sequel films
Nordisk Film films
Swedish crime thriller films
Swedish detective films
2000s Swedish-language films
Swedish mystery thriller films
Swedish sequel films
2000s German films
2000s Swedish films
Swedish LGBTQ-related films
Danish LGBTQ-related films