Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, The: Original Extended Version (Blu-ray) (2009)

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General		Extras
Category	Crime	Menu Animation & Audio
Rating
Year Of Production	2009
Running Time	178:16
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Daniel Alfredson
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Michael Nyqvist Noomi Rapace Lena Endre Annika Hallin Jacob Ericksson Sofia Ledarp Anders Ahlbom Micke Spreitz Georgi Staykov
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	$29.95	Music	Jacob Groth

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	Swedish DTS HD Master Audio 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English (Burned In)	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	Yes
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Traditionally, story structures consist of three "acts", or stages. In the first, a protagonist is introduced and what they wish to accomplish at the end of the story is explained. In the second, a challenge is issued to that protagonist, in the form of a major barrier or series of barriers, often personified in the form of an antagonist. Finally, the process by which the protagonist overcomes the challenges and barriers to their goal is spelled out.

     Now that I have that out of the way, allow me the chance to indulge my favourite habit of whaling the p*** out of people who translate things poorly. Luftslottet som sprängdes is the Swedish equivalent of "The air castle that blew up". This title is easier to get the full meaning of when one bears in mind that "air castle" is an idiom from the Swedish language that has the same meaning as "pipe dream". The manner in which the villains' dreams of being able to continue their corruption unchallenged blow up in their faces is a joyous thing to watch on film. Clearly, the people in charge of translating the original text thought that, like them, we were not clever enough to get that.

     When last we left Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace), her male parental unit and stepbrother had shot her in the head, buried her out in the yard, and then acted surprised when she showed up again, shooting at them. Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) shows up at the last minute and calls emergency services. Lisbeth is taken to hospital, and a delicate procedure to remove the bullet from her brain is performed. In novel form, this operation was fascinating to hear described. In the short film, its synchronisation with the opening credits makes it a great watch. In this miniseries format… not so much.

     The male parental unit in question, Zalachenko (Georgi Staykov) at first tries to use his position as a Soviet intelligence defector and possessor of knowledge the Swedish government does not want shared to wring more favours. It comes as a surprise to him when a member of the Section who will be dead from cancer soon anyway comes in and kills him. Said assassin also makes an attempt upon Lisbeth, but his path is barred well in advance, leaving the Section to deal with Lisbeth on their own time. To this end, they attempt to have Lisbeth legally committed to the mental hospital on a permanent basis, in the process telling lies about her in front of her that beggar explanation.

    What follows is basically a courtroom drama in which I found myself hoping to stars above was merely exaggerated compared to the real tales word has it they are based on. I lost count of the number of times during the prosecutors' testimony that I thought "this is something I would expect of an Australian, not a Swede" or something like that. Unfortunately, both director and screenwriter go crazy with shortcuts and omissions, and numerous vital points are lost. As a miniseries, this needed at least another half an hour to really work. And then there is the little matter of the way in which this episode has been presented…

Video

     The same problems that plagued the other two discs are in evidence here. The transfer is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio within a 1920 by 1080 window.

     The transfer is sharp to an extent that is sort of halfway between DVD and a 2009 film on BD. As I write these remarks from the notes I made, I watch Aliens for amusement and reflect that that transfer is considerably sharper in spite of the film being twenty-three years older. Make of that what you will. Shadow detail is good, but not great. Low-level noise is not a problem.

     The colours are fairly natural and balanced. No bleeding or misregistration is evident.

     Compression artefacting does not appear in the transfer. As with the other discs in the series, any motion, especially on the camera's part, results in the image blurring into a composite of present and previous frame. Camera pans and rapid motions are extremely difficult to watch, possibly even seizure-inducing, as a result. Film artefacts were not noted in the transfer.

     Subtitles in English are burned into the image. The inability to turn them off might annoy some viewers who can speak Swedish, especially given the highly suspect quality of the translations on offer.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

     The audio is just like the other discs in the series, too. A single soundtrack is provided with this disc: the original Swedish dialogue in DTS HD Master Audio 5.1, bitrate unknown.

     The dialogue is well separated from the music and Foley. No audio sync problems exist.

     The music in this feature is credited to Jacob Groth. There are moments when it stands out, but it is not my favourite example of music in film. This is especially the case with the music in the opening and closing credits, where any pretence of subtlety is thrown out the window and the music becomes incredibly irritating.

     The surround channels receive a minimal amount of environmental effects and music. During dialogue sequences, which dominate this feature, they almost have nothing to do. The subwoofer is occasionally used to support moments of violence or low-frequency parts of the music. It is not worked terribly hard or integrated that well.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

     As with the other discs in the series, this disc is presented with mild animation based on the same paintings that were used in the credits sequences, and accompanied by audio that gets annoying after about fifteen seconds. And again, a ratio of more than ten minutes to chapter stop is utterly unacceptable.

      Given the major issues present on this disc, the question is more which version of the disc is not better than the one on offer here. If you have the ability to give Region Codes the one-finger salute, the Region A boxed set appears to be a viable and better option. Otherwise, importing the Region B disc from the UK is the way go. Irrespective of either consideration, the local disc is a loser to be avoided like venereal disease.

     Luftslottet som sprängdes is disappointingly uneven. One review states that it is nice to see films in which the adult characters behave like adults rather than arrested adolescents. That much is true. Unfortunately, much of this feature feels like a collection of unconnected episodes designed to hit certain notes rather than a cohesive, whole story. There are many exchanges in the novel, especially during the courtroom segment, that really would have benefited this miniseries translation if they had been kept whole. Even if that adds another half hour to the runtime. Fortunately, Rapace and Nyqvist do their usual bang-up job of making their characters more interesting than would otherwise be the case in these circumstances.

     The video transfer. Where do I begin. I had to stop it and watch other things repeatedly, feeling vague dizzy sensations and headaches. And I have never actually been diagnosed with any epileptic disorder, leave alone the sort that causes one to roll on the floor when a television's picture decides to roll (appropriately named "grand mal" by epilepsy specialists). So this may well be the first video transfer I have seen that qualifies as hazardous to one's health.

     The audio transfer is almost entirely frontal, but is redeemed by the clarity of the actors' voices.

     The extras are non-existent, and the chapter stops are inadequate.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall