The Girl Who Played With Fire [Flickan som lekte med elden]

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Plot: This is a sequel and the movie spends time rebuilding the story from the previous film including how Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) is blackmailing her guardian. This film's complicated story involves a drug/prostitution ring and police corruption. Salander is accused of murdering two and then three people, and the police, her friend Bloomkvist and the criminals are all out to get her.

Review: The first half of the movie was too plot heavy and not very enjoyable, but it led to a dramatic confrontation at the end that was intense and made the whole worthwhile. The scriptwriter (Jonas Frykberg) simplified the story in the novel, but it was too complicated to follow anyway, and the richness of the characters was compromised.  Lisbeth should have been smarter and more troubled. I would like to have seen some Monk-like physical ticks.

If this movie is evaluated as a free-standing work, then it fails as it is too complicated to follow without the novels or at least the first movie as a guide. If it is evaluated as part of the larger whole, then it stands up better. The character development in this movie is not strong enough alone to provide interesting characters. The complex story of the novel is probably unfilmable, but it did provide interesting situations for the characters to enact.

Noomi Rapace had some excellent scenes especially at the end. Michael Nyquist who played Bloomkwist was not interesting and none of his scenes were interesting.

The book was all about the exploitation of the woman in the human trafficking ring, but that was barely a sidelight here. This took away emotional intensity.

Cast:Noomi Raplace, Michael Nyquist

Directed by: Daniel Alfredson

Rating: 2.5 flasks


More: I liked the warpaint makeup Lisbeth wore in this interrogation scene. Great visual. Creepy.

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Winter's Bone

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Plot: Ree (Jennifer Lawrence) is a 17 year-old from an outlaw family in rural America, probably Missouri, and her Dad has skipped bail. The bail bondsman is going to claim the farm, and kick Ree, her two siblings and her mentally-ill Mom on the street. Ree goes in search of her Dad, but instead finds an extended family of strange and scary relatives.

Review: Ree's character is very strong and well-drawn. She is noble in her suffering and tireless in her quest. Her task is so unfair and so hopeless that we are sympathetic with her throughout the movie. All the strengths of this movie come from the Ree Dolly character and its portrayal by Jennifer Lawrence. Jennifer's acting is great -- from the first scene she seems like a real girl with a world of burdens on her.

The rest of the movie is not so good. The other kids are just placeholders. Her creepy uncle Teardrop (John Hawkes) is colorful, but not interesting. He just seems scary and unpredictable to me.

The only other excellent character is villainous matriarch Merab, played by Dale Dickey -- she is practical, tough, complicated and squeezed by her obligations to her even tougher husband.

I saw this movie yesterday, and today I like it better. Even though it was bleak and not fun, the Ree character is so memorable. I wondered why her relatives were not more helpful. In my view outlaw families are usually close, and Ree's Dad would have had friends, but the story demanded the Ree be all alone, and so she was.

I find myself wondering what I would have done in her situation. Her heroism makes the movie worth seeing.

Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Dale Dickey, Garret Dillahunt, John Hawkes

Directed by: Debra Granik

Rating: 2.5 flasks


More: The sound effects were disturbingly poor. One should never notice that the sound of the footsteps are wrong.

Even more: Winter's Bone starts off with kids playing with a lullaby in the background. It is bad sign when a film starts with sleepy music.