The Girl Who Played with Fire (Flickan som lekte med elden) (2009)

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General		Extras
Category	Thriller	Main Menu Audio & Animation Theatrical Trailer Gallery-Photo
Rating
Year Of Production	2009
Running Time	124:14 (Case: 129)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (58:47)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Daniel Alfredson
Studio Distributor	Rialto Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Michael Nyqvist Noomi Rapace Lena Endre Peter Andersson Michalis Koutsogiannakis Annika Hallin Sofia Ledarp Jacob Ericksson Reuben Sallmander
Case	?
RPI	$39.95	Music	Jacob Groth

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	Swedish Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Swedish dts 5.1 (768Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English (Burned In)	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     These days virtually any successful book is quickly made into a movie or TV show; sometimes the rights are sold even before the books hit the shelves. One of the biggest literary phenomenon of the last few years has been The Millennium Trilogy, Swedish mystery/thriller novels by Steig Larsson who tragically died after completing the books but before they were published. He was completely unknown outside of Sweden before his death and is now a name known around the world. There have been the inevitable squabbles over his estate and now with the release of these Swedish language movies and the upcoming and seemingly inevitable US remake this can only get worse. Regardless, the original source materials are great reads and the first film in the Swedish series was an excellent thriller which kept you gripped for it’s nearly two and a half hour running time. I reviewed the first film on DVD here.

     Now, the second film in the series, The Girl Who Played with Fire, has been released to DVD & Blu-ray after a theatrical run here in Australia and globally. Interestingly, these movies were originally planned and shot as a mini-series for Swedish television and with the international success of the novels it was re-cut (and shortened) to make three theatrical releases. The full television version, which adds about half an hour per movie, is currently available on DVD in the Netherlands, however it is not English friendly as the subtitles are only in Dutch. It may get released more widely after the movies run their course, both theatrically and on DVD.

     The story follows on from the previous instalment although now the focus shifts from the mystery which was resolved in the first part to Lisbeth Salander's past and how it comes back to haunt her. A new journalist is hired by Millennium, Dag Svensson, who has been working on a story about human trafficking to Sweden for prostitution. He and his fiancé are brutally murdered and Lisbeth is the main suspect. This starts a chain of events which involve Lisbeth, Blomkvist, Lisbeth's guardian Bjurman and shadowy figures from the secret police and Lisbeth's past.

     This is a gritty and tense film which is well acted, however it is let down a little by the screen writing when compared to the previous instalment. This one is a bit confusing in the first half hour especially, I would guess, if you haven't read the books (which I have). After the opening act, the film gets better and the ending is quite powerfully filmed. Interestingly, the first film was shown theatrically at 2.35:1 whereas this one was 1.85:1 which I think gives it more of a television feel compared to the more theatrical first instalment. Also, this film is quite a bit lighter compared to the first film's tendency towards darker scenes. The two leads, Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist are perfect for their parts, very similar to what I imagined while reading the books. I suppose it is a fair warning if you have not read the books that this story and film feature themes and scenes of sexualised violence, so it may not be for everyone.

     This film does justice to the source material without quite keeping up the standard of the opening film.

Video

     The video quality is very good, although not without issue. The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio which is close to the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. As I noted above the first film was 2.35:1 which made it feel more theatrical even at home. It is 16x9 enhanced widescreen.

     The picture was quite clear and sharp throughout. Shadow detail is quite good. There were some noticeable MPEG artefacts especially after the layer change. They were never terrible. There was also light background grain at times. The colour was very good with no colour artefacts. There were no other noticeable artefacts.

     There are burned-in subtitles in English which are in yellow and too small for easy reading. They also sometimes disappeared into the background making them hard to read. On a couple of occasions, whole lines of dialogue were not translated.

     There is a layer change at 58:47 which was quite noticeable during playback.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The audio quality is very good. This DVD contains two audio options, a Swedish Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack encoded at 448 Kb/s and a Swedish DTS 5.1 soundtrack (both are coded as English on the disc). Both options are very good but as usual the DTS has a slight edge in depth and surround activity.

     Dialogue seemed clear and easy to understand but my knowledge of Swedish is nothing special. The score by Danish composer, Jacob Groth, does not add as much to this film as it did to the first. The surround speakers were used mostly for music and some ambient noise like trains, cars and motorbikes. The subwoofer was used for music support and adding bass to other effects.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     Very little here.

Menu

     The menu was simple including music and minor animation.

Trailer (1:24)

     Subtitled Swedish trailer.

The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest Trailer (1:50)

     Subtitled Swedish trailer.

Still Gallery

     15 stills from the film...zzzzzz.

    The Region 1 version has an English dub option and the trailer. Our local version has the DTS track and the gallery in addition to Region 1. Close enough to call it a draw. Also available on Blu-ray both here and in Region A.

     A very good Swedish thriller based on a high quality novel.

     The video quality is very good but the subtitles are a bit ordinary. The audio quality is very good. The extras are minor.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall