It’s a contradiction. But I can’t recommend today’s four-star conspiracy thriller — at least not for some of you. It would be like reading the last page of a juicy novel first.
If you don’t already know why you should see “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest,” then you definitely shouldn’t. Only people previously familiar with the two preceding Swedish-language films, based on the late Stieg Larsson’s phenomenally best-selling Millennium Trilogy, should see this third and final installment.
Not that those folks need my recommendation. Because after seeing the gritty, enthralling “Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” and “Girl Who Played With Fire,” they’ll probably be longing to experience what catharsis finally comes to one of the great modern fictional heroines ever. Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) has been through hell. As the title character of the three novels and films, she has experienced since childhood sadistic exploitation by a violent patriarchy that not only includes the medical, legal and political establishment but also her own father and half-brother. Though hardening herself into an androgynous punk hacker, she still retains her doe-eyed vulnerability. With few words but enormous fortitude, aided by rumpled journalist crusader Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), Lisbeth faces down her fears and her tormentors.
Though she nearly died at the end of “Fire,” her wounds don’t stop a corrupt faction of Sweden’s secret police and her creepy former shrink (Anders Ahlbom). They try to use the system to lock up Lisbeth and her damning secrets about them. But she has both Mikael and his sister (Annika Hallin), a brave lawyer, on her side.
Directed by Daniel Alfredson and adapted for the screen by Ulf Rydberg, “Hornet’s Nest” was originally shown in Sweden as a segment of one whole miniseries. Cutting up the production for international theatrical release has hurt it. Only “Dragon Tattoo” works just as well as a separate entity. But Parts 2 and 3 are dependent on the intricate character development in Part 1, where the almost extrasensory understanding between Lisbeth and Mikael — and our attachment to them both — gets established.
Strong pacing and terrifically despicable villains, hallmarks of the series, offset some Perry Mason-style courtroom turns in “Hornet’s Nest.” And, again, it is the epic performances of Nyqvist and especially Rapace as the protagonists that make this third movie. Even with a well-credentialed Hollywood remake of “Dragon Tattoo” already shooting, those Swedes power the only “Girl” for me.
