First Hit: A good ending to a trilogy which I fully enjoyed.
The film begins with providing some scenes from the previous film which has Lisbeth (played by Noomi Rapace) being shot, buried, digging herself out, taking an ax to her father Alexander Zalachenko (played by Georgi Staykov), and being flown to the hospital. Both she and her father are in the hospital with the wounds they inflicted on each other.
Because her father was a spy from Russia the government had given him and a small band of others enough tools to execute covert actions in Sweden generally through force. Afraid that Lisbeth and her Alexander would expose this secret group, one of the older men of the group goes to the hospital to kill them both. He succeeds in killing only the father.
Mikael Blomkvist (played by Michael Nyqvist) who has been Lisbeth’s friend through all three films is doing what he can to assist her for her upcoming trial. They try to prove her as insane because of her past actions and because she was sent to a mental hospital when she was young, but Mikael, working through his sister and lawyer Annika (played by Annika Giannini), are able to obtain evidence that Lisbeth has been set up from the beginning. She gains her freedom.
This film lacks the kind of action thriller scenes that the others had, however it ties the whole series together nicely.
Rapace is fantastic. I love how powerful she is on the screen each time the camera is on her. She holds character very well and when you see her give a slight smile you know the depth of her pain and joy. Nyqvist is wonderful as the magazine reporter who cares deeply about Lisbeth as both friend and one time lover. Giannini is good as Lisbeth’s lawyer and with being pregnant, smart, and focused she gains Lisbeth’s confidence. Lena Endre reprises her role as Blomkvist’s business partner and part time lover. She is effective. Ulf Ryberg accurately wrote the script from Steig Larsson’s book of the same title. Daniel Alfredson’s direction was very good and he did a great job of keeping all three films with the same look and feel making them easy to move from one to the other.
Overall: This was a wonderful end piece to this trilogy of films. It didn’t rely on action but intellectual suspense.