Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Best / Worst of the Decade
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
xx
Adjustment Bureau, The
53
Alice in Wonderland
47
A-Team, The
84
Avatar![]()
63
Babies
34
Back-up Plan, The
53
Book of Eli, The
22
Bounty Hunter, The
30
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore
xx
Chain Letter
39
Clash of the Titans
31
Cop Out
55
Crazies, The
56
Date Night
51
Death at a Funeral
72
Despicable Me
56
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
56
Dinner for Schmucks
51
Eat Pray Love
45
Expendables, The
23
Furry Vengeance
65
Get Him to the Greek
61
Green Zone
30
Grown Ups
63
Hot Tub Time Machine
74
How to Train Your Dragon
79
IMAX: Hubble 3D
74
Inception
57
Iron Man 2
33
Jonah Hex
52
Just Wright
61
Karate Kid, The
66
Kick-Ass
21
Killers
46
Knight and Day
20
Last Airbender, The
xx
Last Exorcism, The
33
Last Song, the
31
Letters to God
50
Letters to Juliet
43
MacGruber
30
Marmaduke
35
Nightmare on Elm Street, A
75
Oceans
64
Other Guys, The
38
Our Family Wedding
47
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
xx
Piranha 3-D
51
Predators
50
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
56
Ramona and Beezus
40
Remember Me
53
Robin Hood
65
Salt
67
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
27
Sex and the City 2
46
She's Out of My League
58
Shrek Forever After
63
Shutter Island
46
Sorcerer's Apprentice, The
66
Splice
45
Step Up 3D
xx
Takers
92
Toy Story 3![]()
58
Twilight Saga: Eclipse, The
44
Twilight Saga: New Moon, The
43
Why Did I Get Married Too
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
52
[Rec] 2
xx
12th & Delaware
xx
180° South
90
45365![]()
55
8: The Mormon Proposition
xx
Accidents Happen
62
After the Cup: The Sons of Sakhnin United
36
After.Life
73
Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector, The
55
Agora
82
Ajami![]()
77
Alamar
78
Anton Chekhov's The Duel
63
Around a Small Mountain
57
Audrey the Trainwreck
xx
Badmaash Company
xx
Barking Water
75
Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo
62
Behind the Burly Q
63
Best Worst Movie
31
Black Waters of Echo's Pond, The
35
Boogie Woogie
64
Breath Made Visible: Anna Halprin
xx
Brotherhood
24
Burzynski
51
Butcher's Son, The
xx
Ca$h
67
Cairo Time
59
Cartel, The
68
Casino Jack and the United States of Money
37
Charlie St. Cloud
xx
Cheech & Chong's Hey Watch This
48
Chloe
66
City Island
52
City of Your Final Destination, The
56
Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky
58
Concert, The
xx
Contenders, The
xx
Convention
71
Countdown to Zero
83
Crazy Heart![]()
51
Creation
xx
Cremaster Cycle, The
73
Cropsey
73
Cyrus
74
Daddy Longlegs
64
Disappearance of Alice Creed, The
73
Dogtooth
50
Don McKay
66
Double Take
47
Dry Land, The
67
Eclipse, The
85
Exit Through the Gift Shop![]()
56
Extra Man, The
75
Farewell
76
Father of My Children, The
30
Finding Bliss
38
Flipped
52
Formosa Betrayed
60
Fresh
xx
Fruit Fly
53
Gangster's Paradise: Jerusalema
43
George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead
76
Get Low
68
Ghost Bird
77
Ghost Writer, The
68
Girl on the Train, The
66
Girl Who Played with Fire, The
xx
Gone with the Pope
40
Good Heart, The
69
Good, The Bad, The Weird, The
49
Great Directors
45
Greatest, The
76
Greenberg
59
Handsome Harry
24
Happiness Runs
73
Harlan: In the Shadow of Jew Suess
55
Harry Brown
80
Have You Heard From Johannesburg?: Apartheid and the Club of the West
57
Here and There
xx
Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger
51
Holy Rollers
54
Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel
32
Human Centipede (First Sequence), The
79
I Am Love
91
I Was Born, But...![]()
33
In My Sleep
60
Infidel, The
67
It Came From Kuchar
74
Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child
79
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
57
John Rabe
55
Joneses, The
55
Juche Idea, The
65
Kenny Chesney: Summer in 3D
86
Kids Are All Right, The![]()
53
Killer Inside Me, The
53
Killing Kasztner
44
Kimjongilia
xx
Kings of the Evening
68
Kisses
62
Kites: The Remix
47
La Mission
xx
Last Letters from Monte Rosa
xx
Law, The
63
Lbs.
xx
Le amiche
58
Leaves of Grass
87
Lebanon![]()
72
Let It Rain
70
Life During Wartime
41
Lightkeepers, The
76
Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders
37
Living Wake, The
66
Looking for Eric
72
Lottery, The
37
Love Ranch
86
Mademoiselle Chambon![]()
xx
Malice in Wonderland
46
Mercy
78
Messenger, The
47
Metropia
62
Micmacs
75
Mid-August Lunch
60
Middle Men
54
Misfortunates, The
64
Mother and Child
75
Mugabe and the White African
35
Multiple Sarcasms
65
Mundo Alas
xx
My Girlfriend's Boyfriend
50
My Name is Khan
41
Nature of Existence, The
71
Neshoba: The Price of Freedom
xx
Nightfall
71
No One Knows About Persian Cats
59
Nobody’s Perfect
72
Oath, The
xx
Ocean of Pearls
65
Ondine
59
Only When I Dance
58
OSS 117: Lost in Rio
xx
Oxford Murders, The
37
Paper Man
63
Parking Lot Movie, The
68
Patrik Age 1.5
40
People I've Slept With, The
42
Perfect Game, The
47
Perrier's Bounty
48
Picasso and Braque Go to the Movies
78
Please Give
31
Pornography: A Thriller
41
Princess Kaiulani
90
Prophet, A![]()
xx
Raajneeti
67
Raavan
78
Racing Dreams
xx
Ramchand Pakistani
xx
Red Birds
63
Reel Injun
85
Restrepo![]()
xx
Road, Movie
45
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead
xx
Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage
43
Salt of This Sea
81
Secret in Their Eyes, The![]()
81
Secret of Kells, The![]()
73
See What I'm Saying: The Deaf Entertainers Documentary
57
Severe Clear
57
Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
52
Shine of Rainbows, A
48
Sicilian Girl, The
77
Single Man, A
68
Smash His Camera
69
Solitary Man
45
South of the Border
56
Spoken Word
47
Spring Fever
75
Square, The
22
Standing Ovation
75
Stonewall Uprising
53
Tales from the Script
74
Terribly Happy
78
Teza
75
That Evening Sun
xx
They Came to Play
49
Thorn in the Heart, The
xx
Thru the Moebius Strip
60
TiMER
64
Tirador
15
To Age or Not to Age
52
Touching Home
33
Trash Humpers
59
Trotsky, The
xx
Trust Us, This Is All Made Up
24
Twelve
56
Two in the Wave
62
Valhalla Rising
85
Vincere![]()
xx
Visionaries
54
Wah Do Dem
70
Warlords, The
56
What's the Matter with Kansas?
55
When You're Strange: A Film About The Doors
68
Whiz Kids
52
Who Do You Love
35
Who Killed Nancy
64
Wild Grass
xx
Wild Hunt, The
56
Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest, The
69
Winnebago Man
90
Winter's Bone![]()
68
Women Without Men
xx
World on a Wire
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Girl Who Played with Fire, The

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 35 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 7 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Action | Mystery | Suspense/Thriller
Written by: Jonas Frykberg
Directed by: Daniel Alfredson
Release Date:
Theatrical: July 9, 2010
Running Time: 129 minutes, Color
Origin: Sweden | Denmark | Germany
Language(s): Swedish | Italian | French
Summary
RATING: R for brutal violence including a rape, some strong sexual content, nudity and language
Starring Noomi Rapace, and Michael Nyqvist
Mikael Blomkvist is about to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation between Eastern Europe and Sweden, implicating well-known and highly placed members of Swedish society. On the eve of publication, the two investigating reporters are murdered and the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to Lisbeth Salander. (Music Box Films)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Los Angeles Times Betsy Sharkey
Though the thriller is in the hands of a different filmmaking team this time led by Swedish director Daniel Alfredson and screenwriter Jonas Frykberg, they've kept the searing intelligence and ruthless bent.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
The actress gets immeasurable help from the writing: Lisbeth's anger is matched by her intelligence and her physical prowess, which enables her to administer as well as absorb pain in megadoses. But none of it would register without Ms. Rapace's singular combination of eerie beauty and feral intensity. She's a movie star unlike any other.
Read Full Review >Orlando Sentinel Roger Moore
Yes, it’s pretty much a must to have seen the first film. Where Dragon Tattoo felt like fall, Played with Fire was shot in the Swedish summer, which suits the faster pace, ramped up violence and fresh collection of supporting players -- cops, a kickboxer, and a couple of borderline Bond villains.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
A firecracker of a story - sharply written, superbly acted, and fast-paced.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The Girl Who Played With Fire is very good, but a step down from “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” if only because that film and its casting were so fresh and unexpected.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
I found The Girl Who Played With Fire more gripping than "Dragon Tattoo," because this one doesn't just play with thriller conventions -- it puts them to work.
Read Full Review >NPR Bob Mondello
Like most second parts of trilogies, this movie is more or less all middle.
Read Full Review >St. Petersburg Times Steve Persall
It's a welcome chance to learn more about Lisbeth Salander, the kinky, punk hacker and pop culture phenom played by Noomi Rapace.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Amy Biancolli
At its simplest, "Fire" tells of Mikael's efforts to exonerate Lisbeth. At its most baroque, it explores a vast web of sex trafficking and deep-rooted conspiracy that goes back decades and touches on Lisbeth's inflammatory background.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Relentless suspense allows The Girl Who Played With Fire to hold you in a viselike grip. But it’s the performances of Nyqvist and especially Rapace that keep you coming back for more.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Connie Ogle
The story is far from finished; the film can't help but feel like a bridge to its end. But the power of that partnership forged in "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" remains strong.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
This is no-nonsense, let's-get-to-it business, and will probably be less satisfying, and less clear, to viewers unfamiliar with the source material.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall
Director Daniel Alfredson grounds the mystery in a real sense of place: his Stockholm looks and feels like a major city where corruption lurks behind attractive facades. The reporter character is better developed than in the first movie, but most of the supporting characters from the book have been shrunk to little more than walk-ons.
Read Full Review >Village Voice John Patterson
Stripped of Larsson's social/political minutiae and slimmed down to its thriller chassis, certain clichés become more glaring: Lisbeth's superhuman hacking skills, overfamiliar from a zillion TV procedurals; an exploitative lesbian sex scene that mightn't have pleased the feminist Larsson; the secondary villain, a blond giant incapable of feeling pain--gah!; and the too-comfy manner in which the twin narratives finally interlace.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
Ms. Rapace, tiny and agile, her steely rage showing now and then the tiniest crack of vulnerability, belongs to another dimension altogether. She makes this movie good enough, but also makes you wish it were much better.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
There's way too much plot here getting in the way of the story, which makes it tough for Alfredson and cinematographer Peter Mokrosinski to focus on the series' strongest elements. Of course it's the character of Lisbeth that has made these books and movies into a worldwide phenomenon.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Corliss
In Rapace, it has an actress who brings a memorable literary character to indelible movie life, as Vivien Leigh did for Scarlett O'Hara.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
Resembles nothing so much as a workmanlike TV crime thriller.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan
A solid, twisting, well-acted mystery, but it strains credulity at times, and its ultimate revelations are unsurprising and, when you think back on the whole film, confusing. It also lacks a distinctive atmosphere, shot in an almost TV-style flatness.
Read Full Review >Movieline Stephanie Zacharek
Suspenseful in a few places and absurd in plenty of others; if she were a real person, Lisbeth Salander herself would have no patience with it.
Read Full Review >St. Louis Post-Dispatch Joe Williams
A passable popcorn movie, but fans of the first film who expect lightning to strike twice are liable to get burned.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
The villains are so extreme that they come off like sleazy caricatures. This accentuates the nuanced skill of the two lead performances, but it undercuts the overall effect of this well-constructed, if occasionally flat, pulp thriller.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
Whenever The Girl Who Played With Fire threatens to stall, Lisbeth whips out her Taser and tortures another sleazy, abusive man into vomiting forth his dirty secrets. In Sweden, I believe they call this “light entertainment.’’
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
The second film lingers less determinedly on the degradation of Lisbeth and concentrates more on moving the narrative furniture around. The relationship between the main characters is the glue holding the balsa wood together.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
All too often, the second movie of a trilogy is a bridge. ("The Matrix Reloaded," anyone?) As often as not, it feels more like the first half of the last movie than a film in its own right. The Girl Who Played With Fire is no exception.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
Those who've read and loved the book should be satisfied, but it's reasonable to hope for more from the final entry.
Read Full Review >Boxoffice Magazine Tim Cogshell
In any case, The Girl Who Played with Fire works well as a stand-alone feature, though it's more fun if you've seen the first film.
Read Full Review >Arizona Republic Kerry Lengel
Despite the lethal force that inevitably gets applied to poor Lisbeth, we never really fear for her safety, but we do fear for her future happiness. That is where the real drama lies.
Read Full Review >Time Out New York Joshua Rothkopf
Though play with fire she might, couldn’t screenwriter Jonas Frykberg have played with a little button called DELETE? There’s no reason why a two-hour movie should feel like three, nor require quite so much fidelity to Larsson’s plot curlicues.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson
More disappointingly, the entire cast seems less committed than they were the first time out.
Read Full Review >Variety Boyd Van Hoeij
This subpar Nordic crimer, leaves ample room for improvement for the inevitable U.S. remake.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
It’s refreshing to have a movie assume that its viewers are also readers, yet this one takes that assumption to testing lengths. To those fearful of flunking the test, my advice is simple: Bring along the book as your cheat-sheet.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones
The Girl Who Played With Fire's chief frustration is in how removed Salander and Blomkvist are from each other.
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
Almost without exception, the men are either sickening deviants or wise mentors while the ladies tend to be kickboxing hipsters or victims of sexual abuse (many are both).
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.8 (out of 10) based on 7 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Robb B. gave it an8:
It's exciting, but why does the director insist upon using white subtitles, often on a white background? Movie making has made great strides forward, not to have viewers frustrated.
Carlos F. gave it a10:
Great movie. One of my favourites. Don't judge it based on its predecessor.
