The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest: DVD Review

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest: DVD Review

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest

Rating: R16
Released by Vendetta Films

In the third film based on Stieg Larsson's books, the action takes up just moments after the close of the second film. Lisbeth Salander is being choppered to hospital, shot repeatedly and on the brink of death after tracking down her father Alexander Zalachenko and exacting her revenge.

Facing charges of attempted murder, Salander is trapped - with the police wanting to hurry her trial along and with the shadowy cabal The Section determined to get rid of her before their existence becomes known, her prospects don't look good.

But as ever, her faithful friend and journalist of the Millennium magazine Mikael Blomkvist (the ever stoic faced Nyqvist) is determined to clear her name.

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest is a triumphant end to the trilogy - and while some will be put off by the lack of action, the tension in this one is nail biting.
Sure, with most of it taking place in drab corridors, inside a hospital or a courtroom, there's a lot more expected of the actors - and the main duo Rapace and Nyqvist deliver in spades.

It's the story which is more of the star this time (one character even remarks "It's like a classic Greek tragedy") as the various threads are drawn together in the web of decades old conspiracy, the drama is tautly pulled together; so much so that at the devastating end in the courtroom, the restrained directing and story telling works so much better because of it.

The best moment of this film though is the final scene - but talk of that is spoilery, so discover it yourself.

Extras: Interviews with the main actors and a trailer - not bad but a little disappointing given how the series has ended and a retrospective piece may have been in order.

Rating: 8/10