FAQ

The movie is based on Luftslottet som sprängdes (2007), published in English as The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, a crime novel by the Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson [1954-2004]. It is the third novel in his Millennium trilogy, preceded by The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Swedish: Män som hatar kvinnor) (2005) and The Girl Who Played with Fire (Swedish: Flickan som lekte med elden) (2006). The movie version of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is preceded by The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009) and The Girl Who Played with Fire (2009).

It's in Swedish with English subtitles. The extended version on DVD set has a choice of dubbed English with English subtitles. (What is heard and what you read onscreen are often very different.)

Viewers who have seen all three movies strongly recommend seeing them in order, because they are sequential. The first movie provides background on the characters as well as details of the relationships between Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace), Mikael Blomqvist (Michael Nyqvist), and Nils Bjurman (Peter Andersson). More importantly, the second movie (which ends in a cliffhanger of sorts) explains Lizbeth's relation to Alexander Zalachenko (Georgi Staykov) and Ronald Niederman (Micke Spreitz), details why she was framed for murder, and shows how she ends up blood-covered and nearly dead on the flight-to-life transport, which is where this third movie begins. For those who do not wish to watch the previous movies, only sparse and unexplained flashbacks are provided.

Zala shoots Lisbeth three times, then he and Niedermann bury her and leave her for dead. The next day, Zala goes out to the barn to close a door that has swung open and finds a bloody-faced Lisbeth standing there with an axe, having managed to dig her way out of her grave by using her cigarette case. Without saying a word, she whacks him in the head. When Zala falls to the ground, she whacks him again, then grabs his gun. Zala's screams alert Niedermann, who comes running out to the barn. Lisbeth shoots at him but misses. She continues to fire at him, but it is unclear as to whether or not any of the bullets have hit her target. Mikael, who has tracked down Niedermann's address, drives up just in time to see Niedermann walking away. Mikael gets out of his car and notices Lisbeth lying on the ground, having crawled out of the barn. Mikael calls for the police and an ambulance. Lisbeth is air-lifted to the hospital.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest picks up exactly where The Girl Who Played with Fire leaves off. The movie opens with Lisbeth being airlifted to the hospital after being shot and presumed dead.

While Lisbeth is recuperating in the hospital, Micke Blomqvist attempts to write an article for Millennium magazine explaining Lisbeth's situation and demanding justice for her, all of which results in threats against him and the Millennium staff. Meanwhile, Dr Peter Teleborian (Anders Ahlbom Rosendahl) is preparing an evaluation recommending that Lisbeth be re-institutionalized. Niedermann is still gunning for her, and she's going to trial once she is released from the hospital.

Evert Gullberg (Hans Alfredson), a member of the Swedish Security Service. The SSS decided that they must silence Zalachecko to preserve Cold War secrets. Gulberg was also sent to kill Lisbeth, but her lawyer wisely places a cart under the door handle when she hears the shots going off

Some might have even found the theatrical cut too long and for those the extended cut was certainly not meant. But anyone who has actually read the novel will have wanted some more material, since whole plot strands are omitted in the theatrical cut. Concerning the first underlined differences, one really gets to see some of that in the extended version. However, there are no news about the previously mentioned differences in the scenes with Erika. It would have probably been to much work to introduce completely new characters and the resulting scenes would have not matched the original footage. The identity of the stalker is also not uncovered in the extended version. Having said that, there are some more threatening emails and the whole strand seems to be better integrated into the overall plot. Fortunately, the surveillance of Mikael is shown in more detail in the extended version and since some of the scenes are arranged differently, this is introduced a lot earlier. The viewers are not only shown the deception scheme with Annika but also the replacement of the bugged mobiles. Furthermore, there is more focus on the support from Milton Security and even Susanne Linder is introduced briefly. Disappointingly, there is no romance between Mikael and Monica in the extended version, either. However, several news scenes, which integrate Monica into the plot better, were added. Monica's connection with Milton Security is also shown. (Monica's boss Edklinth is good friends with Armanskij). All this, in combination with Monica's investigation of the Section members, which has also been extended, adds a great variety of detail to the characters and leaves a more satisfying impression. The extended version also explains the fate of Jonas Sandberg and shines a light on the "second Sandberg", which nevertheless remains a bit confusing if one has read the novel. The guy in the first half of the movie is said to be Wadensjöö, who according to the novel is the untalented successor in the section management. His sudden disappearance is explained in several new scenes: Gunnar Björck is killed here (as in the novel) by order of the Section, unfortunately Wadensjöö was with him shortly before that and now wants an explanation from his employees. Since he does not get it, he secretly contacts attorney general Ekström - which is found out and results in his murder by the contract-killer brothers Nikolíc. This is a completely new plot strand, since novel-Wadensjöö is taken into custody at the end of the story as all the other Section members. Another rather creative addition to the novel has been removed. The new scenes with Niedermann are not in the extended cut.

Other changes worth noting are for example the changes made at the beginning of movie. Several new scenes with Gullberg and Lisbeth in the hospital, establish the storyline more slowly but make everything also easier to understand. Zala and Lisbeth also come closer to each other. In a new scenes he almost makes it to her bed. The cooperation between Mikael and Sonja also gets more space in the extended version. In addition to that, one also has to mention (like in the previous parts) the completely new opening credits. Each parts shows the credits on a background of nicely drawn pictures, which show scenes from the movie as well as one of Millennium 2. Overall, Millennium 3 is most thoughtfully extended part of the trilogy. The characters are given more depth and the plot leaves a coherent impression, mainly thanks to the re-arrangement of several scenes.