Not since The Lord of the Rings has a cinematic series been this satisfying. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is the completely satisfying conclusion in the film set based on the now enormously popular book trilogy from the late (great) Steig Larsson. The film opens in the hospital as our offbeat heroine is being operated on from injuries sustained at the end of the second film, The Girl Who Played with Fire. The 'girl' of course is Lisbeth Salander (played by the Oscar-worthy Noomi Rapace), and this final film works to solve the mystery of "The Section", the group out to kill Salander and anyone else who gets in their way.
The film is nearly 2 1/2 hours long, but after the first half an hour or so, the rest of the movie flies by. Where the first two movies were action packed thrillers, this one changes pace and spends more time forwarding character development and tying up all of the mysteries opened in the other two. This has bothered some critics, but not me - I thought it was brilliant. The acting is exceptional, and not just from the leads. This movie has some great supporting characters as well. And while this is a slower film opposed to the others, it still has some top notch suspense and one "jump" scene that trumps any others in the series.
If you haven't seen the other two, you don't want to start here. The trilogy is very closely connected and you need to go in order - starting of course with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I am so sad that Larsson passed away, because I really want more Lisbeth. I haven't read the book series yet, and that's next on my "to-read" list. I have spoken to people that have both read the books and seen the movies, and everything I hear on both fronts is positive. I would give The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest an 8 out of 10.
Family Take: While this is the cleanest film in the R-rated trilogy, it's still too intense and violent for young children. Teenagers might be able to handle this one, but knowledge of the first two films is required - and those films contain graphic sexual content only appropriate for adults.
If You Like The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest Try: I would suggest renting The Lives of Others, a brilliant espionage thriller that was one of my favorite films of the year when it came out in 2006.
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