This is the third and last film adaptation of the best-selling Millennium book trilogy by the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire). In the last installment, also directed by Daniel Alfredson, Lisbeth Salender (Noomi Rapace) is in an intensive care unit of a Swedish hospital recovering from a bullet wound to her head. This pierced and tattooed computer hacker looks very vulnerable — and indeed she is, given the power and hatred of her antagonists, the members of "The Section," after what she tried to do to her nefarious father, Alexander Zalachenko (Georgi Staykov), a defected Russian spy.
Knowing that Lisbeth will soon have to go on trial for three murders, her friend and supporter Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), publisher of Millennium magazine, is putting together an article in her defense. As a result, they are receiving death threats from Zalachenko's many allies.
At her trial, Lisbeth tries to square off against the members of the Swedish cabal that is determined to silence her — one of whom is the same pedophile shrink (Anders Ahlbom Rosendahl) who abused her when she was much younger. He now wants her put in an asylum under his care. Anyone who has ever been the subject of a vicious campaign of lies will identify with Lisbeth's rage as she listens to this cruel man defame her. Her final encounter with those who have made her life a living hell is rendered like a Hollywood action drama.
The Millennium series as a whole reveals the depths of degradation reached by zealous people and makes us respect the important role of the shadow in both private and public realms.
