Directly after the end of the last movie, Lisbeth Salander is recovering from the gunshot wounds and facing trial from the earlier three murders. Her father Alexander Zalachenko is also recovering while her half-brother Niedermann is on the run. Mikael Blomkvist intends to expose everything while old men from the Swedish Security Service tries to silence the loose ends.The problem in this movie is that it's simply tying up loose ends. There are no more mystery or reveals left. Also Lisbeth is left on the sideline. First she's in the hospital, then she's in prison and finally she's in court. It's a lackluster wrap up of the trilogy without adding anything interesting. Also Mikael keeps saying that they're going to write the story about her. It seems like there is enough dirt to start writing. I don't really understand why they don't publish something. Again as with the second movie, Lisbeth and Mikael are kept apart for most of the movie. It is simply not as compelling as the earlier two films.

A return to form after "The Girl Who Played With Fire" fell into a bit of 'middle part of a trilogy disease'; lots of exposition and setting up for the last part, together with a feeling of marking time, that nothing can really get too resolved. Consequently both the sense of danger, and emotional impact were lower, even though there was a lot more running around, shooting, etc. It felt more like a Hollywood action film. But here we get back into deeper themes, back into Lisbeth Sander's head. There's less action, but more psychology and complex behavior, and that's where the strength of the trilogy lies. There are fight scenes, sure, but the most intense scenes are the film's courtroom battles, and it's almost as scary to think that Lisbeth may self-destruct, as that others may destroy her. Noomi Rapace does her best work of the trilogy here. We get Lisbeth's stone exterior, but there are always just enough hints of the damaged little girl she was to keep her heartbreaking. Her long but filled silences, and minimal dialogue betray how painful it is for her to even try to trust other human beings. The series theme's about the damage that men do to women comes back to the forefront, and we're less in a thriller than a character study with thrills. I still think the first film, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" felt the most gritty and real. The scope of the bad guys was less theatrical, the conspiracies more believable because they're more limited, less grandiose. But as a conclusion to the three act opera, this is pretty damn solid, and certainly stuck with me in the days after I saw it.

The trilogy ends with this last part that I found boring, disappointing and especially too long. Why? The story looses itself in too many unnecessary details that could have been left away. Then the pace was incredibly low. I missed during the whole running time suspense and new elements of this intriguing crime thriller. This was for me nothing new and it didn't take me on a high trip. But I must again congratulate Noomi Rapace for her outstanding performance. I hope that the next announced trilogy will be at least on the same level as the first two parts. Read therefore my reviews on IMDb. My final score is for these reasons 5/10.

The concluding episode of Stiegg Larrssen's trilogy of thrillers continues more in the vein of the second instalment, centring in the mysterious "Section's" efforts to frame Lisbeth Salander for the attempted murder of her father, coincidentally the Russian whose entry into Sweden they concealed back in the 70's. I must admit I struggled a little with the ever-growing cast of characters and wondering who was on whose side as it became clear that the "Millennium" staff were not going to be able to free Lisbeth on their own. I found therefore that up until the last half-hour the plot meandered more than drove forward and even if individual scenes contained suspense and excitement, too often they confused rather than clarified. That said, the final grandstanding scenes of Lisbeth's trial and her final confrontation with her hulking-ish half-brother Nieddermann are worth the wait and a fitting conclusion to an enthralling and challenging series. In Lisbeth, the taciturn, punk-ish but resourceful avenging angel, we see one of the most memorable literary and cinematic characters of recent years.The direction and acting was of the highest standard throughout in a complex and engrossing mystery which for my money has a lot to show the bigger studios in Britain and especially America in how to produce a credible and exciting contemporary thriller.