I had seen "Men who hate women" without having read the novel, had appreciated it, and was willing to see this second part of the trilogy. As far as context, I can repeat what I had already said in my comment for the first movie, that is my surprise to see a modern Sweden not so clean, nor respectful of human rights as we, as southern Europeans, are used to see, or at least to be given such an image. Indeed, we find a country stained, in this case, by harsh stories of trafficking of young girls from eastern Europe, involving high political representatives, policemen and Russian spies.

As far the thriller story, I could perceive the clearly different direction. Whereas in the first movie, each plot twist was developed, sometimes retold, in order not to leave anything unexplained or unaccomplished, here, it seems that something was lost and never captured again, the story is less a thriller and more a detective story, focused on the character of Lisbeth, still superbly interpreted by Noomi Rapace: she dominates every scene, every moment, but, as a consequence, much of the plot, which involves her but many other aspects and characters, seems to be left to those who have read the book and may understand the links. For example, the same trafficking of women, is not developed, being however the main theme of the story itself, it is given much importance at the beginning, and then left undeveloped throughout it. Also the relationship between Blomkvist and his colleague Erika is not understandable: I believed he was in love with Lisbeth, caring for her, and suddenly I find him in bed with his friend-journalist, without letting the viewer know much about their relation.

The general atmosphere is also less tense and enthralling than in "Men who hate women", sometimes the pace is too slow. As a conclusion, I would say this second part of the trilogy is less convincing than the first, less solidly directed, and probably to be more appreciated by those who have read the novel. It is, however, a quite well made product, well interpreted and still instilling a will to see the third part, and, why not, to turn to the written page to look for the "missing" things.

In Stockholm, the young journalist Dag Svensson (Hans-Christian Thulin) offers the thesis of his fiancée Mia Bergman (Jennie Silfverhjelm) about trafficking and prostitution in Sweden to the editor of the Millennium magazine Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist). The couple is temporarily contracted by the magazine to expose the corruption of prominent persons of the Swedish society. Meanwhile, the computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) returns to Stockholm and breaks in the apartment of her guardian, the lawyer Nils Bjurman (Peter Andersson), seeking her reports and uses his revolver to threaten her guardian. When Dag, Mia and Bjurman are found murdered and the weapon with Lisbeth's fingerprints in the crime scene, she becomes the prime-suspect and is accused of the three murders. However, Mikael does not believe that Lisbeth is guilty and investigates the "johns" of the thesis expecting to find the killer. Meanwhile Lisbeth researches the documents expecting to find the culprit and discloses hidden secrets about her father.

"Flickan Som Lekte Med Elden" a.k.a. "The Girl Who Played with Fire" is another engaging thriller based on the Stieg Larsson's novel. I have just seen this film on an imported DVD and it is impressive the number of characters perfectly developed in the concise screenplay and 129 minutes running time. The sharp direction of Daniel Alfredson succeeds, giving the adequate pace to the film. The tough Lisbeth Salander and the wise journalist Mikael Blomkvist are among my favorite characters of action movies. The performances are excellent and Ms. Lena Endre is an impressively beautiful lady. The greatest flaw in the plot is the great number of gun shots in Zala's farm and no response from the neighbors. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Menina que Brincava com Fogo" ("The Girl Who Played with Fire")

Note: On 15 Jul 2018 I saw this film again.

Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) has been living off of the stolen money from Wennerström. It's been a year of traveling and since she had contacted Mikael Blomkvist. She returns to Sweden to warn her guardian Nils Bjurman against trying to remove his tattoo. Meanwhile, a young couple brings a story of trafficking girls with names of high officials to Blomkvist. They are killed as well as Bjurman with his own gun. Lisbeth is the prime suspect with her fingerprints on the gun.

I watched the movie again and realize that it's missing the wintery cold moodiness of the original. The feel of the movie is reduced to a solid Euro-thriller. Lisbeth takes more of a center stage as the case gets connected to her past. That's probably a good thing since she was the breakout star of the original. However the original's desolate feel is very much missed and it also misses the direct interaction between Lisbeth and Mikael.