October 29, 2010, - 5:01 pm

Weekend Box Office: “Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest”

By Debbie Schlussel

It’s a movie rental weekend at the box office.  This week’s only new release, “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest,” is a sequel.  It is the end which ties up all loose ends in the first two installments,“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” (read my review) and “The Girl Who Played With Fire” (read my review).  All three movies are based on novels by the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson, focusing on goth, renegade techie, Lisbeth Salander, played by actress Noomi Rapace. This one, like the other two, is also in Swedish with English subtitles and is playing mostly at arthouse theaters.

Like the other two movies, this was long and slow.  And it lacked the thrill and excitement of the other two.  It was boring.  Plus, you really need to have seen the first two to understand what is going on . . . or to care.  As you may know from my reviews of the first two movies, I didn’t care for them.  What could have been great thrillers were spoiled by brutally graphic rape, torture, and lesbian sex scenes.  It really wasn’t necessary.

And this one was just dull.  At nearly 2.5 hours, I had to watch it in parts. Too long–and it definitely felt that way.  They could have shaved an hour off of this and no-one would notice.  Like I said, if you haven’t seen the first two, don’t bother with this one.  You won’t get it. Plus, Rapace’s sullen act as Lisbeth gets old. Very old. Next.  Still, I gave this movie a better review than the first two because it is less graphically disgusting.  In fact, it basically has none of that, which made it considerably less a piece of garbage.

All of these movies are going to be remade in English, starring Rooney Mara in the Salander role.  It will be interesting to see how Hollywood makes a graphic, long series of movies even worse.

ONE-HALF REAGAN
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Watch the trailer . . .




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10 Responses

I’m a big fan of the goth/punk genre and aesthetic…and I love foreign movies, but I really see no need to see any of these films. I’m just not into the trend.

That being said, I am even less enthused for an American remake. I am a proud American, but I hate most American films. I do tend to like art-house films…but I am nothing like the effete Liberals who like ’em too.

I heard that these books, even though they are the latest rage, are really not that good and not well written. That sorta turns me off, but I have to admit that the genre seems right up my dark alley.

I recommended a GREAT Serbio-Croatian film I’d like to shout-out again…”The Trap”. I loved it!

Skunky on October 29, 2010 at 9:36 pm

What about Saw-3D?

Norman Blitzer on October 30, 2010 at 12:13 am

Never saw the movies, reading the first book in the series
was bad enough. Started out interesting enough, but got
steadily worse.

Daniel K on October 30, 2010 at 11:01 am

I think a better movie this weekend would be Saw 3D. Not because its a GREAT

Brett Martin on October 30, 2010 at 1:26 pm

I think a better movie this weekend would be Saw 3D. Not because its a GREAT movie…but more seasonal.
See my review here.

http://blip.tv/file/4313987

Brett Martin on October 30, 2010 at 1:27 pm

I have to disagree, my wife drug me to the movies and I had to reluctantly agree that I enjoyed them. I will likely have to see the Hornets Nest as well.

I can’t think of anything worse than an American version. They can not achieve the gritty nature of the European version and would have to put in a stupid political/social statement.

For that matter, the American movie has just about died as far as I am concerned. Plus, we really should avoid American movies as they are the ones who gave us Obama and the communistic agenda.

David7134 on October 30, 2010 at 2:14 pm

Shavua tov, Debbie. Can you please recommend some DVD’s worth viewing? It’s hard to find anything worth watching now-a-days.
Thanks!

Gail on October 30, 2010 at 9:15 pm

I saw Saw 3D this weekend and it’s trash. I forgot what the message about these movies are, something about how people aren’t appreciating their lives or something. I don’t know why, I’ve seen them all even though I don’t care that much for them, which I admit is weird.

If you like blood and guts and lots of gore, this is for you. OK, I like some junk food movies at times, so it was fair.

The one redeeming thing: 80s jiggle babe Betsy Russell at nearly 50 years old is still very, very hot!!!!!! Vavoom. It’s amazing to me the hottest ladies in movies these days are over 40, such as Charisma Carpenter, Helen Mirren, Betsy Russell, and more.

Oh, I sneaked into Paranormal 2, also. ZZZZZZZZZZZ. I have to disagree with your review a bit, Debbie. Only about maybe 5 minutes tops were anywhere scary. Man, after seeing video of the pool, living room, baby bedroom for the 1,000th time I was nodding off!!! I hated this movie because I wanted to walk out after the endless repetitive shots of the very same thing, but I couldn’t without seeing the ending, which wasn’t much of a payoff to me. And, yes, I suffered through the original, too. To me this was just as bad as the first. A lot of tease with very little payoff.

Oh, one tip for people going to 3D movies. Keep your 3D glasses! They are charging more for 3D movies, so I kept mine from the last one. I paid for a regular movie which was cheaper, then saw Saw 3D.

Jeff W. on October 31, 2010 at 10:29 pm

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Marilu Ercanbrack on May 21, 2011 at 6:31 am

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