randy_byers | The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Luftslottet som sprängdes, 2009)

Eh. This is the concluding movie in the adaptation of Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy, about a tormented goth girl genius and the ugly underbelly of Swedish society. It wraps the story up, but it's by the numbers. We find out who was responsible for Lisbeth Salander's mistreatment as a child and young adult, and why they did it. As hinted previously, it's a right wing conspiracy, but a strangely toothless one. Despite a couple of interesting characters and a few good scenes, there wasn't much drama or suspense to it. Good defeats evil, yay! Probably the most interesting thing about it continued to be Lisbeth's inability to relate to other human beings, but even that felt a bit rote here. On some level this chapter is about her dependence on others to help her despite her inability to trust or understand anyone, but it never really explores the dimensions of that.

Still worth seeing as the conclusion of the story, but kind of a damp squib in its own right.