Like the 2nd movie, this one feels like a TV film not a proper movie. However, this lifts up a bit, mostly because the investigation is very intriguing, and the performance of some of the the actors is very good. We hate some of them with gusto, especially the evil psychiatrist and paedophile Dr. Peter Teleborian who is very well played by Anders Ahlbom. However, the actors playing evil Zalachenko (Georgi Staykov) and his son Dragan (Michalis Koutsogiannakis), overact and underact respectively, and, like in the 2nd movie, they are a caricature of a character. Michale Nyquist and Lena Hendre are still good in their respective performances, especially the latter, but Annika Hallin outshines them with her fresh and down to earth performance as Lisbeth's lawyer Annika Giannini.
Noomi Rapace shines once more, although her character is played down in this movie. Despite the fact the viewer cares about Lisbeth and wants her free and her abusers jailed, there is a lack of empathy with her, mostly because the way the character is portrayed in this movie. The fact that the movie shows not much about her, leads the viewer to feel emotionally detached from her, who appears cold and calculator, lacking of emotion and of any type of kindness, and stripped of the soft core she showed in the 1st movie. The focus of the movie is not Lisbeth's past, but her abusers, and the investigation.
The relationship unfolding between Mikael and Erika is badly explored and explained, especially because Mikael still seems to have a crush on Lisbeth. We do not know what happens to Lisbeth to pass from almost falling in love with Mikael in the first movie to completely ignoring him in this one. Most of the viewers have not read the books, and they will barely understand some of the unfolding events in this last instalment of the series.
The court trial is very entertaining and well performed, although hurriedly developed.
The end of the trilogy is deflated and has no closure. It feels and looks like the end of a TV episode that is to be continued. The director and scriptwriter had already chopped up and hidden many facts that were in the novel, so why not taking a further risk to give the trilogy a good ending? They could have used what we know about Stieg Larsson's unfinished 4th book to do so. Stieg Larsson's unofficial website, summarises a bit what we could have expected from the 4th book:
"Aftonbladet has earlier published the news that the fourth book would take place in Canada, about 75 miles (120km) north of Sauchs Harbour on Banks Island. It is also told that the fourth script would mainly focus on Lisbet Salander, and how her personality changes when she starts to deal with her conflicts from the past. Her tattoos are explained and you are told that each and everyone represent a person who has hurt her throughout her life, both mentally and physically."
Instead, we are left with that sweet & sour taste of not knowing enough about Lisbeth and watching a movie that has no ending. On the other hand, the viewer is happy that there is no continuation, because the enthusiasm, freshness and rawness of the first movie are completely gone in this film.
The cinematography of Stockholm and rural Sweden is gorgeous. The series really makes you want to visit Sweden!
