Black Swan - Movie No. 20

Black Swan

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Starring: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis and Vincent Cassel

Year: 2010

Watched: 21/1/11

What the Fudge is it?

Nina (Portman) has been chosen to play the lead in Swan Lake. She is everything the white swan should be: innocent, elegant and beautiful. In order to play the black swan she must tap into her more sinister and sensual side. Ballet has never looked so cool.

What i Thought...

I feel that every time i go to review a film i like i almost give a little disclaimer to warn anyone reading that i love the director or actor or something like that. I was about to start writing one but i will try and stop. The hardest thing about reviewing Black Swan is avoiding other reviews. I have made a point of not listening to or reading reviews of any of the films i am writing about. I have only heard friends opinions on all of the film so i will be glad that i can finally sit down and listen to Mark Kermodes views on this film after a very very long wait......but first.

Its hard not to walk into Black Swan with some hype following you. We have been hearing about best actress, film and director nominations for ages. if you managed to avoid that you would still hear about lesbian scenes which is enough to pack out a Boro cinema on a Friday night. I was just really looking forward to seeing what Darren Aronofsky did after the wrestler.

I think it is going to be hard to structure this review as my head is filled with shit about the film so i will try my best, my biggest fear is leaving out something i loved as the more i think about it the more cool things pop into my head.

I have heard from alot of people that this film is "weird" and "shite". ive also heard "natalie portman was crap" and "natalie portman was amazing". I am all for opinions but at the end of it all i think mine is always right. I feel the film is getting very mixed feedback from people as they are expecting something different. Is it the main stream coverage the film is getting or the awards that is making them think they are walking into a crazy heart with ballet. This is a film by Darren Aronofsky! Do a little fucking research and realize that guy has made some weird shit. I loved the fountain, requiem, Pi and the wrestler so i knew i wasnt going to walk into a run of the mill movie.

The film follows the story of Nina a ballerina dancing with a New York dance company. With interest in recent shows the artistic director decides to inject some new blood into the company. Nina is chosen for the main role in swan lake. She is graceful and beautiful everything you need to be to play the white swan. Her artistic director urges her to get in touch with her dark side in order to play the black swan, a much more sexual and sinister character. as she explores her dark side she becomes more reckless and begins spiraling out of control. With competition from rival dancer Lily and the overbearing pressure of her mother Nina finds it harder and harder to maintain control and her sanity.

Portman is unbelievable, of course the story of Swan Lake and the transformation from innocent white swan into the black swan run through the film but it is most obvious in Portmans performance. She plays the part brilliantly and is well deserving of her Oscar. From a fragile and timid girl to a sexual and tormented woman we see her character literally shift as the film progresses. What is most impressive is she is on screen non stop. Much like Rourke in the wrestler this is driven by her performance. She is the leading lady and carrys the film from start to finish. This is not big loud over the top acting it is proper subtle acting over the span of the whole film. Its nice to seem an Oscar winner who hasn't played a minority, famous person or taken on a physical transformation to just make themselves ugly.

The film looks and sounds stunning. There were some lovely touches of sound in requiem for a dream and the wrestler and they have been topped in this. The cracking of toes and creaking of floor boards add to the suspense that this character, the world and the lives in it could fall apart at any given moment. The dancing looks fantastic! must like he did for wrestling Anonofsky gets close to the action and shows the beauty and risk of the ballet. Its never shown in a glamourous light we see the blood and sweat and tears that go into producing something so beautiful.

As the character of Nina explores the darker side of her personality the film shifts into an almost supernatural and psychological genre. There are a lot of shots that reminded me of the fly and american werewolf in its body transformation sequences. The body shock horror pieces are brilliant and disturbing. One fantastic scene will make you never want to pull a rag nail again.

Ninas relationship with her mother is a very odd one. It is never fully explored only implied but there is a definite Psycho feel. Barbara Hershey is fantastic as the over protective and slightly unhindged mother. The two are fantastic on screen together and the scenes again possess that uneasy feeling that at any given moment it could all boil over.

Given the nature of the black swan character it is inevitable that the film deals with sexuality and seduction. There are shades of exploitive sex that reminded me a lot of requiem for a dream. Yes there is the infamous lesbian scene but it isn't delivered in a smutty wild things manner. Even the sex is dealt with in a dark and disturbing way which was refreshing and added to the tension overall. its a great contrast to see the comparison of ballets purity and innocence against the smutty and sleazy view of sex that i last saw in requiem.

The whole film has a distinct feel which is similar to the wrestler. At points it almost feels like a documentary with the camera following Portman through her practices and routines. Dwelling on the smaller details of ballet like stretches, preparing etc. Just like the wrestler the film embraces the detail and takes the viewer into the world. There are narrative comparisons to the wrestler looking the physical and mental sacrifices it takes to be centre stage and be in the main event of your sport of choice.

I have banged on about Portman and Hersheys performances but the rest of the cast are also fantastic. Vincent Cassell is perfect as the passionate but slightly sinister creative director. Mila Kunis shakes off any views that she is only a comedic actress, the jealously between her and Portman looks and feel genuine. One of the real stand performance is Winona Ryder, her character Beth Macintyre acts as a great warning to the character of Nina. She is deeply tormented and now that her prima ballerina position has been taken by Nina she is filled with jealously and rage. Ryder is fantastic and really looks like a woman who is falling apart at the seems. Her character is a much more extreme version of the retired wrestlers randy the ram met at the autograph signing, a woman who made the physical and mental sacrifices to be at the top and now that it is gone she has nothing.

Overall just a fantastic cinema experience, hints of the fly, psycho, requiem and the wrestler. Natalie Portman is superb from start to finish, her acting in great but subtle. Great script and pacing along with fantastic direction.....everything this Darren fanboy needed.

Overall

Stunning! Dark, creepy, beautiful and scary all at the same time! Fantastic performances and directing. The best film i have seen in a long long time. Loved it from start to finish and i think it will be seen as an absolute classic.

5/5

Conviction - Movie No. 19

Conviction

Director: Tony Goldwyn

Starring: Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell and Melissa Leo

Year: 2010

Watched: 20/1/11

What the Fudge is it?

Based on the true story of Betty Walters, a single mother who dedicated a shit load of time putting herself through law school to try and overturn her brothers murder conviction. By shit load i mean 12 years or so.

What i Thought...

I don't know if it bodes well for a film when I'm not looking forward to reviewing it. There are a few reasons for this. Maybe it wasn't that good or maybe its because i have another film to review next that i enjoyed slightly more. in this case it could be both. But fuck it this woman spent 12 years or so getting through law school i can must up 12 minutes or so to review it.

So as the what the fudge section says or as i should probably refer to it the synopsis. Conviction is the story of Betty Walters who after her brother is convicted of murder and several failed appeals puts herself through law school in order to defend poor Sam Rockwell.

The film does a great job of showing us that Kenny (Sam Rockwell) is no saint. Most of the opening reel is dedicated to showing us his nasty side but also his comic value. Rockwell does a great job of playing the lovable dick. The follows the nasty event. Once locked up with the key well and truly thrown away the acting reigns are handed over to Swank.

We follow Betty as she struggles to keep her marriage together, juggle a job and get herself through law school. To be honest at times i struggled to keep interested. Swank is great as the persistent Betty and the visit to Kenny in prison give Sam Rockwell a chance to really show off. He captures Kenny as he hopes and fail and hope and fails before eventually giving up on ever getting out. So whats the problem?

its hard to say....something just is a little dull, i thought it was the directing but maybe it was the script. We seem to spend a lot of time learning to be a lawyer, don't get me wrong it took her a while to do it and that's fantastic. The movie dwells on that part too long, we are given tiny glimpses of the effects this journey has on the husband and children of Betty.

The there is the actual overturning of the conviction (if you think i just did a spoiler, fuck off!). There is an interesting story here as it uses DNA evidence and it is mixed up with hints of police corruption. This is given what seems like 30 minutes on screen. Now i know when you walk into a movie like this you probably know whats going to happen. The job of the director should be to still engage and thrill me even though i know the outcome. i guess he dropped the ball and spent too much time dwelling on how Rockwell and Swanks characters are so close instead of showing all the interesting stuff.

The acting is great and i love seeing Minnie Driver in anything (not just because she is sexy). Swank and Rockwell and great but even they could keep me overly gripped.

Overall

Good but given how other true stories this year have been gripping and entertaining it seems a little dull in parts. Some excellent acting but just baggy and not half as interesting as i was hoping.

2.5/5

As if i made it the whole way though without saying it lacked conviction. Brilliant!

An Education - Movie No. 18

An Education

Director: Lone Scherfig

Starring: Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard and Alfred Molina

Year: 2009

Watched: 18/1/11

What the fudge is it?

A young school girl is whisked off her feet and shown a world away from school books by a charming but slightly creepy older man. The police don't get involved because its the 1960's and everyone was on drugs.

What I Thought...

Several people tortured me to watch this. i don't mean tortured as in made me watch 4 eyed monsters again but every time i would bump into them they would ask me had i seen it. I had it on my list mainly to see what all the fuss was about. Glad to say i finally got around to it so they can stop annoying me.

Set in the 1960's An Education is the story of a young girl (Mulligan) destined for University. Her life revolves around study and the ultimate goal of reaching university to pursue her education. Although Jenny has a desire to get away from the suburban bore she currently occupies her desire appear overshadowed by her slightly overly pushy father.

Jenny is a clever girl with a knack for studying and books but definitely has a romantic side. She wants to see the world, listen to French music and visit exotic locations. On a chance encounter with an older man Jenny is given the opportunity to see the world and embrace all the culture she desires. As the relationship develops David spends more time with Jenny which involves meeting her parents.

David does a fine job of charming Jenny and her parents. There are two great sides to the David character; the side we see with Jenny and the front that is put in place for her parents. i was sitting thinking "how is he gonna wing this one with her parents?" and every time the charming creep pulls it out of the bag. At times i thought some of the excuses and scenarios highly unrealistic. i would never let me daughter (i don't have one) hang out with a random older man. His lifestyle is extravagant and spontaneous i have to admit even if i was a 16 year old girl i would wanna spend sometime with this guy. Does that make me easy? i don't care.

Then i have to sit back and say to myself the film was set in the 60's you cant apply modern thinking to it. I'm not saying that in the 60's there were no bad guys but i can assume there wasn't the same amount of protection and in general peoples were a lot more trusting unless on acid.

Carey Mulligan deserves all the praise she is getting for her performance but i think the rest of the cast do a great job too. Much of the comic relief is delivered from Jenny father played by none other than Dr Ock from spider-man. Dominic cooper and Olivia Williams are great too.

The whole film romances the idea of life experiences and the beauty of not following a set path through education to work. There is also a nice little debate of University Education Vs Life Experience and which will make you happier and in the end be worth more to you. Sadly the film seems to lose the bottom slightly in the end and wrap up in what i felt to be a slightly awkward manner. Like stopping off at Mc Donalds for dinner it was lovely while it lasted but it wont tide me over and its effects are short lived.

I'm still slightly impressed with that little corker i just wrote about the Mc Donalds :-)

Overall

Just a nice film with a little internal debate over life experience vs education. Of course Mulligans performance is great but Molina, Sarsgaard and Cooper are no slouches either. Glad i watched it but not as memorable as i hoped.

3.5/5

The Squid And The Whale - Movie No. 17

The Squid and the Whale

Director: Noah Baumbach

Starring: Owen Kline, Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney

Year: 2005

Watched: 15/1/11

What the fudge is it?

The story of a more than slightly dysfunctional family as they are pulled apart by divorce. Bernard is a bitter novelist turned teacher, his wife Joan is an up and coming writer who has been unfaithful. As their marriage begins to fall apart their children forge new relationships with their parents. And a Baldwin plays tennis.

What i thought...

It was only after watching the film that i found out that the story is based on the childhood experiences of Noah Baumbach.

The Berkman family are messed up enough without having a divorce to deal with. Bernard played by Jeff Daniels is an intellectual and once published author turned teacher. We quickly learn that Bernard has a twisted and cynical view on the world and refers to people who don't read books or watch films as philistines which i hope i have the spelling right for. Daniels plays the character brilliantly and he is just a total jerk. There is no other way to put it, his bitterness and jealously grows as the film progresses but somehow you still feel a little sorry for him. He is an angry and pompous man who deep down believes he is always right. The only future for a man like this is alone and angry with the world. Jeff Daniels performance is fantastic and it only topped by Jesse Eisenberg and Owen Kline as his two sons.

With their parents divorced the kids times is spent between nights with their farther and mother. Walt the older of the two begins to side with his farther while Frank gravitates towards his mother. The two deal with the divorce situation in their own separate ways.

Walt believes that the sun does indeed shine out of his fathers bitter butt hole. instead of actually being intelligent and well read he tries his best to just appear that way to women. In one fantastic and cringe worthy scene he describe the metamorphosis as being very Kafkaesque before the girl he is trying to impress puts him in his place by saying that Karka wrote it. Walt is definitely his fathers son and his desire to be recognized as an intellectual/artist result in him making a total ass of himself several times. Eisenberg does a great job of playing the socially awkward teen and in the scenes with him and Daniels you genuinely believe his adoration for his father.

Frank the younger son sides more with his mother and her influence on him is also very apparent. Joan who is excellent played by Laura Linney is very open with the two about her sexual exploits and we get the impression she is a bit free spirited and hippylike. Its true that Frank along with the tennis playing Baldwin deliver most of the comic relief but the younger wanker also has some of the saddest scenes in the film. I call him a wanker as the divorce hits him at a bad age. He discovers alcohol and masturbation resulting in several scenes which are humorous but equally heartbreaking to watch. Frank decides to masturbate and spread his semen around the school library and lockers. His pass times also include getting hammered on his own and having angry outbursts while playing sports. Owen Kline is brilliant as Frank and i really felt for the little dude even if he was spreading his love seed everywhere.

To call it a lovely film would probably sound wrong but i just really enjoyed it. Everyone in it was great and although slightly sad in places its dark humour and great performance kept me watching from start to finish. Not really about the the end output as that seems inevitably but more about the journey the family take through the whole semen covered adventure.

Overall

Funny, sad and sometime just incredible awkward to watch. Jeff Daniels is fantastic but even his performance is overshadowed by Owen Kline as his youngest son. Quirky and funny without playing down the effects of divorce. Definitely worth a watch but probably avoid as a date movie unless your trying to give him or her a hint/glimpse of what could happen if it all goes wrong.

4/5

Machete - Movie No. 16

Machete

Director: Robert Rodriguez

Starring: Danny Trejo, Michelle Rodriguez and Robert De Niro

Year: 2010

Watched: 15/1/11

What the fudge is it?

Machete is a big badass Mexican. He is hired to take out a senator (De Niro). Before he can carry out his assassination he realizes he has been set up. Like every bad ass wronged hitman he decides to get revenge on the men who set him up. Funny bloody rampages ensue.

What i thought...

I am a total Rodriguez fanboy and i say that with a lot of pride. My nerdy fanboy obsession began when i was in secondary school. It was in secondary school that i think i started properly watching films mainly due to the influence of my older siblings. To cut a long story short thanks to empire and the wonder of VHS rentals i was introduced to El Mariachi, desperado and eventually the fantastic From Dusk Til Dawn. Yes i just described From Dusk Til Dawn as fantastic! Which i still think it is. I feel i should also mention that i loved The Faculty and Sin City too. If Rodriguez is anything he is a film fan, he makes films that embrace whatever genre they are in. Not ripping off or getting bogged down with the sound of his own words like some directors (Smith and Tarantino). I have always thought he makes films that he would like to watch instead of self indulgent homages to his own obsessions.

For anyone who isn't familiar with the birth of Machete, it all began with Grindhouse. To accompany the under rated planet terror and sadly disappointing death proof Rodriguez and Tarantino created mock trailers. One of these trailers was for an Mexican exploitation gorefest named Machete. Fast forward 3 years and we have a finished film by the same name.

Like Rodriguezs last venture into exploitive madness Machete sports a fantastic cast. i will get to the performances in a bit.....Machete is a hitman for hire, he takes a job to assisinate a local senator. Before he can pop the senator someone take a pop at machete. Slightly pissed off Machete begins to hunt down the men who set him up.

From the get go the film has an old shitty VHS feel to it. The lighting, action and dialogue all reminded me of a terrible action movie that you would find yourself watching just before every channel on the TV would sudden start trying to sell you ab machines. The action is hilarious and fantastic all at the same time and is accompanied by some fantastic cheesy guitar riffs. Shades of From Dusk Til Dawn and planet terror run through all the action scenes and on several occasions i found myself giggling at how silly it is to see a man perform the John McClane firehose trick with a mans intestines replacing the hose.

Danny Trejo is fantastic as the bad-ass machete. As Machete kills his way through hordes of men in the name of revenge a plot involving border control and immigration emerges. This is where the film drops the ball and almost begins to become something it shouldnt attempt. The tale of revenge and killing is fine without the complications of trying to give a message. i understand at the route of most exploitation movies there is some form of message be it a small one but Machete does pile on the message a little too much.

Although i though the added padding of the immigration and border control story was not needed it does introduce Jessica Alba as the sexy U.S immigration officer Sartana and Michelle Rodriquez as a taco making revolutionary Luz. Both women are fantastic and deliver the terrible dialogue and awkward sexual tension with great ease. Lindsey Lohans performance although short is perfectly fine, it would be nice to see her play a few edgier characters like this if she can stay out of rehab, brothels, asylums or wherever she spends her spare time.

Apart from Trejo standing out as Machete the best performance belongs to Jeff Fahey as Booth, many people will most recently remember him as the cool pilot from Lost. Booth is such as jerk and Fahey plays the perfect mix of cowardly and sinister throughout. For me the only disappointment in terms of acting was De Niro, the character of Senetor McLaughlin isnt the best but it seems that De Niro is still in that mode of playing someone doing a impression of the famous Bobby De Niro. With something like this you would expect someone like Bobby to go to town and pull something cool out of the bag but alas he doesnt. There are little sections of brilliant when you would look at Senetor McLaughlin and swear it was George Bush, if only he had have gone with this the whole movie.

For me the film rides a very thin line between being an exact homage of those terrible back of the shop VHS's and a daft personal project with a message. Rodriguez just about manages to steer Machete in the right direction. The action is hilarious and i laughed more than i have with any comedy recently. By no means perfect but i had a ball watching it. For fans of hammy action and exploitation muck this is a must see and remember....they fucked with the wrong Mexican.

Overall

Rodriguez knows how to make a genre fest of a movie without turning it into an overly indulgent love letter. Full of all the slap stick and fun that you would expect from any VHS found in the bottom of a bargain bin. Almost loses its way by trying to have a message but I throughly enjoyed it from start to finish. Laughs, Sex and Gore galore!! A masterpiece of a trashy film.

4/5

Megamind - Movie No. 15

Megamind

Director: Tom McGrath
Starring: Will Ferrell, Jonah Hill and Brad Pitt
Year: 2010
Watched: 15/1/11

What the fudge is it?

Will Farrell voices a big blue super villain called Megamind. Megamind has been locked in battle against Metro Man for years. After he finally beats the handsome superhero (pitt) he finds himself will less to do than an unemployed dol rat. With no sign on days to occupy him Megamind becomes bored and creates his own hero to fight against.

What I thought...

I am very skeptical about 3D animation. Could be because i am a nerd that teaches a load of animation or maybe it is that i feel animation not something to be treated like the silly dumb kid that can only make fart jokes. 3D Animation is just another type of film. I don't think we should look down on animation or complain if it is nominated for best film. Look at anything made by pixar or studio ghibli and you will see a collection of films that are miles better, gripping, acted and moving than a lot of the live action films in cinemas today. So i sit down to watch animated films with the same view as i approach a film full of living breathing humans. I do get worried because of the shite that is produced......the skreks of the world have me worried every time a new animation comes along without the name of pixar attached to it.


There are some good gags and the animation is great with some lovely lighting effects. In fact the film has all the polish and shine we expect from animation today. Only a few things are missing..... character depth, decent music and a heart.

With Mega Mind we get a Shrek like approach to the super hero movies as seems to be the fashion these days (kickass etc). By Shrek like approach i mean its played down very dumb and basically spelt out in plain English to us. Megamind is a big blue super villain who has been battling against Metroman for years. When he finally defeats him what the fudge will he do next? With Metro man gone Megamind becomes bored and wants someone to do battle with. Cue Hal Stewart (Jonah Hill) a slobby loser who has no luck with the ladies. Mega mind decides to give him super powers and train him to be his new nemesis. How does he train him? By posing as a Marlon Brandoesque character from superman. The Jor-El gag is one of the best in the movie, the character animation and voice acting for the little tubby superdad is great. Again though it is a cheap joke.

As i said above i had a right little chuckle to loads of bits in the film, but they were cheap gags. I thought Farrells voice acting didn't suit the animation, a lot of it sounded too ad lib which unless done brilliantly just doesn't work for animation. The difference between this and a pixar film is the gags feel well placed in a pixar movie and everything comes together nicely. Timing, character animation, voice acting it all needs to punch at the same time. Mega mind feels a little messed up in parts. It almost feels like Farrell just said what he wanted and some poor animator just did his best with it. Jonah Hills character for me worked much better....the facial movements and nervous body gestures fitted the voice acting and i really enjoyed all his characters parts.

There is a nice underlying theme which The Dark Knight addressed of whether superheroes would exist without villains and how they need each other to survive. The point although very good is never explored and i cant help but thinking if a bunch of brain dead writers and animators had spent more time on this than writing set pieces to fit AC/DC to we would have had a better film. Now i love a bit of old AC/DC but lets not just chuck them into any film because we can....why do animated films need musical numbers to survive? And i don't mean the fantastic Disney style musical numbers i mean taking a pre existing hit and just beating the little CGI fuckers of characters into singing it. Shrek I'm looking at you ya big dumb sell out ogre!!

So a film about the need for superheroes and villain and questioning do we need one without the other. This has been done far better before in the Incredibles. I adore the incredible and anyone who thinks it was so so i urge you to sit down and watch it again. Fantastic animation, good story and plenty of nods of the hat (not ripping off) of classics.



Overall

Meh. Some funny part with some nice animation but like most 3D animation these days it relies on mimicking pop culture instead or referencing it. Voice acting is very dodgy in places. You will chuckle but most likely not re-watch it as much as anything from the pixar/disney collection.

2/5

The Girl Who Played With Fire - Movie No. 14

The Girl who played with fire

Director: Daniel Alfredson

Starring: Noomi Rapace, Michael Nyqvist and Lena Endre

Year: 2009

Watched: 12/1/11

What the Fudge is it?

Lisbeth is a spunky bisexual hacker. Blomkvist is a disgruntled editor. Together they solve shit. The 2nd film of 3. After a young journalist gets murdered for trying to expose a sex trafficking operation Lisbeth becomes the prime suspect. Blomkvist and Salander search for the truth and try to clear her name. Also contains a big unstoppable blond bastard!

What I Thought.....

My fist encounter of this film wasn't the best.....I had just finished watching The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on Bluray, bored and wide awake I decided to browse the special features. There was a sneak peak of the second installment. After watching it I was dumbfounded at how cheap the whole thing looked, the lighting, sets and even sound were like something from an ITV drama/series. Thankfully the finished film is a lot better than Crossroads or some other shite of that nature.

Ok so before I type on I should probably say that I loved The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo. I thought it was brilliant, a proper edge of your seat thriller with a weird Thomas Harris spin to it.

The girl who burnt her bit or the girl who played with fire picks up around a year after the first film (i'm not too sure so anyone who wants to correct me can just jog on). Lisbeth is abroad living a rather lavish lifestyle and getting a tan, lets face it she needed it. As a pale person I feel I can say this that woman looked sick. Blomkvist is still working at millennium doing his thing.

A new young fresh faced dude comes to millennium with a story on sex trafficing and prostitution, how can they refuse? To make the story even sweeter it implements many high powered people. I'm not causing a spoiler by saying that this dude does not make it to the 2nd reel of film. Sadly the little fresh faced fudger bites the dust. Who is the suspect for the murder? none other than the most unlucky bisexual hacker of all time (lisbeth Salander).

What follows is really two seperate investgations, we see Lisbeth on the outside of the law following up leads and clue which Blomkvist investigates the suspects of the sex trafficing to try and find the truth.

My only problem with the film is the distance between Lisbeth and Blomkvist. For me one of the best bits of the first film were the scenes with the two of them in it. This movie does a great job of showing the two working separately but I kind of missed that awkward tension and mutual respect between the two that I grew to love in the first film.

Thankfully the whole film looked and felt more expensive that the preview scene I saw at 4.3o in the morning. There are some great set pieces, my god am I at the stage where I use phrases like set pieces?.... fuck this is worrying. Anyway there are some great scenes with Lisbeth interrogating men, a burning barn and dig your own grave moment.

One new main character is very similar to a big bad guy you would find in a bond movie. He is virtually unstoppable and can't feel pain. Although far fetched the big brute is fantastic to watch and you really end up hating him, he reminded me a lot of the T1000 from terminator 2, at no stage did he turn into liquid metal so please do not sit down expecting him to stab someone through a milk carton. Some of the new characters are slightly strange with a lesbian kick boxer springing to mind as one of the more ridiculous.

The film has tension and goes some way to explain further the past of Salander. Although this is interesting the tension never really reaches the kind seen in the basement scene from the first film. It was that silence of the lamb feel that i enjoyed so much about the first and ya get to see little shades of that in this installment.

Overall

Felt a little cheap in parts but still has some of the magic from the first. Good follow up to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo but it was missing a lot of the tension and mystery from the 1st. Still well worth a watch.....has got me looking forward to finishing the trilogy.

3/5