The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
Music Box Films | Release Date: October 29, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
60
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
10
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
SalonAndrew O'HehirOct 29, 2010
The good news is that Alfredson finds his footing in The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest and delivers a rousing, grueling, almost operatically scaled finale to the series. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyOct 28, 2010
Rapace moves through the escalating exposure with a series of subtle shifts that are both painful and exquisite to watch. The actress can make eye contact seem like salt in an open wound. Read full review
83
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallOct 27, 2010
For the initiated, however, Alfredson weaves a tidy web from loose ends left dangling. Read full review
80
EmpireKim NewmanNov 22, 2010
A pick-up after the second film, if not as assured as the first. Rapace sets a high watermark for Rooney Mara in David Fincher's remakes. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttOct 24, 2010
The movie features a great finish, where three movies' worth of subplots and characters dovetail into a breathtaking climax and final confrontation that is positively soul satisfying. Read full review
75
Orlando SentinelRoger MooreNov 10, 2010
This mismatched "couple" - have made, over the course of three long subtitled Swedish thrillers, the most dynamic duo of recent cinema history. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie OgleNov 4, 2010
In some ways, better than its book. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerOct 29, 2010
For the most part, plays like a pretty good TV police procedural. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleAmy BiancolliOct 28, 2010
"Hornet's Nest" isn't the best of the three (that would be the first film, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"), but it's the most challenging. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanOct 28, 2010
The final, deeply satisfying conclusion to the trilogy of Swedish thrillers based on Stieg Larsson's bestselling novels. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversOct 28, 2010
Hornet's Nest is talky but indisputably terrific, and it ends in a dazzling display of courtroom fireworks. Rapace is hot stuff in any language. Oscar, take heed. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertOct 27, 2010
So what has happened is that this uptight, ferocious, little gamin Lisbeth has won our hearts, and we care about these stories and think there had better be more. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliOct 27, 2010
An entertaining thriller. That said, it's the weakest of the films, falling a length or two behind "The Girl Who Played with Fire," and considerably more than that with respect to "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." Read full review
70
The New York TimesManohla DargisOct 28, 2010
Mr. Alfredson directed the second movie as well, and his work is again essentially functional, limited to clumsy action sequences and television-ready conversations. He doesn't prettify the violence in either movie, which might be unintentional but makes them feel more honest than the first did. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternOct 28, 2010
Once Lisbeth has her day in court, though, the buildup pays off and then some. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderAndrea GronvallOct 28, 2010
In place of romance there are numerous talky espionage scenes that make the movie feel like one of those labyrinthine cold war pictures from the 60s. Read full review
70
VarietyBoyd Van HoeijOct 24, 2010
Benefits from edge-of-your-seat pacing despite a conspicuous lack of action. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaOct 28, 2010
Mostly The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest belongs to Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), the tall and intrepid magazine journalist who is determined to clear Lisbeth's name, and who goes about doing so - and making espresso and checking his e-mail - with zeal. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsOct 28, 2010
Larsson's leading characters have less to do in this wrap-up chapter. As Larsson wrote it and screenwriter and exposition-condenser Ulf Rydberg adapted it, it's a rather wobbly blend of courtroom drama and loose ends tied, albeit rather leisurely. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonOct 28, 2010
It's rarely tedious, but it's also rarely insightful or propulsive, and since there's nothing new to discover about the characters or their world, much of the film feels like a protracted, contrived pause, as everyone waits for Rapace to finally get back into the game. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenOct 29, 2010
Sorry, this one doesn't really work at all, but don't blame the workers. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanOct 29, 2010
The Swedish edition, which ends with this bleak finale, is downright grim. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia PuigOct 28, 2010
Has such dull patches that as a Volvo races to the scene of a massive shootout, a distracting thought comes to mind: Can Volvos even go that fast? Read full review
50
Boston GlobeWesley MorrisOct 28, 2010
This native send-off is robotic enough to leave you eager to see what an artist might do with a reboot. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanOct 27, 2010
Mostly an epic rehash of the tale Larsson has already told, and that makes it, at two hours and 28 minutes, the first movie in the series that never catches fire. Read full review
50
Village VoiceMelissa AndersonOct 26, 2010
Like the first two Millennium movies, this final installment feels thoughtlessly put together, its script unpruned and rushed through, all to capitalize on the staggering worldwide popularity of its dead author. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinOct 25, 2010
Larsson is renowned for his attention to marginal details, which gives his prose a rambling, one-thing-after-another pace that many readers find soothing. Onscreen, the lack of acceleration makes for one of those long Scandinavian winter nights. Read full review
40
MovielineStephanie ZacharekOct 28, 2010
Hornet's Nest is filled with boring, not-great-looking white guys, talking - a lot. Read full review
40
Time OutJoshua RothkopfOct 26, 2010
This can't be a faithful facsimile of the literary phenomenon currently turning soccer moms into Scandinoir crackheads. Nor can ethical journalist Mikael (Nyqvist), an uncoverer of conspiracies, actually be the dull, Windbreakered nonaction hero onscreen. Read full review
30
Boxoffice MagazineVadim RizovOct 29, 2010
Fans will presumably get what they came for; what anyone else gets out of it is hard to say. Read full review
25
New York PostKyle SmithOct 29, 2010
If Swedish villains are this dumb, put me on the next plane to Stockholm. Just don't make me watch these idiotic movies on the flight. Read full review
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