THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE: second session for stylish Swedish thriller

This second installment in the trilogy of Swedish made thrillers based on the best selling novels by Stig Larsson picks up where 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' left off a year earlier.

Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nygvist), the Stockholm based publisher of the investigative magazine Millennium, and Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) have gone their separate ways but their paths cross again after a journalist is murdered shortly before his investigation into sex trafficking is to be published in Millennium. Lisbeth's fingerprints are found on the gun, which is traced back to her abusive guardian. When he too is found murdered she becomes Sweden's public enemy number one and reaches out to Mikael for help.
The plot which unravels is infinitely more complex than this brief summary might suggest, and just like 'Dragon Tattoo' there are more than enough twists to keep you permanently off-balance. And while THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE (TGWPWF) reintroduces us to many of the characters from the first film this is by no means simply a sequel. It stands as an adventure in its own right and doesn't assume that the viewer will have seen 'Dragon Tattoo' (although it's definitely an advantage if you have).
Perhaps what's most different about TGWPWF is that Lisbeth and Mikael conduct their investigations independently and while their discoveries brings them progressively closer together, and they interact with some of the same characters, they don't actually meet until the very end. Think of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in 'Heat' and you'll have a good idea what to expect.
Director Daniel Alfredson has created a worthy companion piece to 'Dragon Tattoo' (which he also directed earlier in 2009) and while I found it totally engrossing it wasn't quite as enthralling as 'Dragon Tattoo.' There's a certain something missing, and I've yet to figure out whether it's the story being not as intriguing, or the novelty of new characters having worn off, or something else.
Despite this reservation I have no hesitation in recommending this film to anyone who enjoyed 'Dragon Tattoo.' If you loved that film, with it's stylish, low key Scandinavian take on the crime thriller genre, you will very seriously like this film.