There’s a sense of completion while viewing The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. After all, the film finishes the trilogy that includes The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire. As a series the Swedish made trilogy comes together logically. It would be just as much of a pleasure to watch all three films at the same time, that is if you don’t mind watching a six-hour film.

Consider Carlos, which runs 319 minutes, or the three films that compose the Red Riding Trilogy, or the two films that form Mesrine. Also recall that the whole Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series is being remade as a big time American studio production, with no less than David Fincher at the helm and Daniel Craig playing the role of the publisher played by Michael Nyqvist in the Swedish version.

Noomi Rapace who plays the lead femme will be forever associated with this role, a 4’11” feisty 89-pound computer hacker whose penchant for intrigue keeps her embroiled in mystery. Her persona as Lisbeth Salander demands your interest and is really the cement that holds everything about Dragon Tattoo together.

As a stand-alone film The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest doesn’t hold up like the other two in the series. Missing is the salaciousness of Dragon Tattoo’s rape subplot or the tension of Played With Fire where Lisbeth’s about to be killed by her captors. Hornet’s Nest unfolds first in a hospital then in a courtroom. We see Lisbeth having a bullet removed from her brain and we see her lawyer introduce the evidence of the videotape she made during her ordeal in the first film. Because we know everything that’s happened in the previous films there no suspense to the events in Hornet’s Nest. But as everything concludes with a nice tidy ribbon wrapped around the story, with all the bad guys arrested and everyone getting their just desserts, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest should be at the top of your to do list.

- Michael Bergeron