Just saw the Swedish film version of THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNETS' NEST, due in U.S. theaters next month. I thought it was outstanding -- the most difficult to condense and yet the most fully-formed and exciting of the three movies made from Stieg Larsson's posthumously-published bestsellers.
The cast is once again perfect, from Nooni Rapace's touching and savage portrayal of Lis Salander and Michael Nyqvist's gentle but surprisingly muscular Blomkvist to Annika Hallin as Blomkvist's brilliant lawyer sister. Lisa Endre as Blomkvist's lover and publishing partner Erika suffers the most from the necessary cutting (no spoilers here, but an extra dimension of her part in the book has been left out.)
And the villains are spectacular -- mostly because they look like ordinary Swedish civil servants instead of a secret Right Wing faction of the government. Only Georgi Staykov as Zalachenko and the unkillable Micke Spreitz as Niedermann have a nasty glare of evil. And Anders Ahlbom Rosendahl, who plays the viscious psychotherapist intent on locking Salander away for life (until he is reduced to babbling by Lis' lawyer) is especially despicable.
HORNET'S NEST was directed with great style and a modicum of restraint by Daniel Alfredson and written by Jonas Rykerberg and Ulf Ryberg; Alfredson and Rykerberg also worked on THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE, which shows how many talented people there are in the newly-bustling Swedish film industry.
Who knows what the American versions will be like? Daniel Craig is a strong choice for Blomkvist, but as for the others...
Meanwhile, as you hopefully saw on the CBS Sunday Morning program on Oct. 11th, there is the tantalizing promise of a fourth (or is it a fifth?) manuscript ready to roll, as soon as Larsson's squabbling heirs and heiresses can come to an agreement.
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