Luftslottet som sprängdes 2009

David Germain, Associated Press: Lisbeth stuck in a confined space is like Superman trapped in a phone booth: It's a blueprint for a mighty boring superhero movie. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: It's only our investment in these fascinating characters and in wholly unraveling the mystery of Lisbeth Salander's awful past that keep it compelling. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Feels like the concluding chapter it is, with neatly tied loose ends and closing remarks, though it unfolds as something of a secular passion play. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Nearly two and a half hours have been filled with the clickety-clack of laptops, extremely polite interrogations and the feverish researching of -- wait for it -- a multipage magazine article. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: 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 more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: An overgenerous helping of recapitulation, a long procedural that's more about Lisbeth's persecutors and protectors than about her. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: More than the other two, this is Rapace's movie; Michael Nyqvist's ever-rumpled Blomkvist has less to do, and their main scene together is just a tantalizing glimpse at the end; a brief, poignant reminder that we've come to the end of the road... Read more

Tasha Robinson, AV Club: There was no chance that the film adaptation of the third book in Stieg Larsson's internationally bestselling Millennium trilogy would be as strong as the first. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: As superb as the Swedish actress Noomi Rapace has been up to this point, there's nothing she can do to bring craft or excitement to the act of texting. Read more

Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader: Since the heroine spends half her screen time recovering from brain surgery, Rapace has less to do than in the first two movies, but she's striking in full punk regalia during a tense courtroom sequence. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: It's a rather wobbly blend of courtroom drama and loose ends tied, albeit rather leisurely. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: One of the knottiest, talkiest tangles of celluloid to roll into theaters this year. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Hornet's Nest has a steady, bulletlike trajectory. Read more

Tom Maurstad, Dallas Morning News: Anyone who has read Larsson's novels will be sympathetic to filmmakers trying to pare down and distill these books. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is too akin to the tidying up of a television-series finale - albeit a very classy franchise with fine characters and able performances. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: If you haven't seen the first two films, do so and then see this one. If you have seen them, chances are you're already in the ticket line. Hornet's Nest has such a sweet sting. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is 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 more

Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: 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 more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: An extremely satisfying ending to the story of Lisbeth Salander, the tough Swedish cyber punk that actress Noomi Rapace has turned into an iconic New Age heroine. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Expunging the cliches, coincidences, flat dialogue and dull exposition will present a challenge for director David Fincher as he begins to remake the films in Hollywood. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest comes close to self-parody at times ... [but] the final chapter has its satisfying turns. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Unlike The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which can stand on its own, the other two films need to be seen as a set. Neither is complete without the other. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: So what has happened is that this uptight, ferocious, little gamine Lisbeth has won our hearts, and we care about these stories and think there had better be more. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: 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 more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: A rousing, grueling, almost operatically scaled finale to the series. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The film huffs and wheezes under the strain of its narrative baggage. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Much of the problem can be traced to the villains of the piece: The snakes in the establishment are a bunch of really old white guys. Now this may be true to life, but it's hell on drama. Read more

David Jenkins, Time Out: A more apt title would be 'The Girl Who Sat Quietly in a Dimly Lit Room'. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: It always is a challenge to convert a dense novel to the screen, but Hornet's Nest starts so slowly that it has a lot to overcome when it finally reveals some surprises in the last third of the film. Read more

Melissa Anderson, Village Voice: 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 more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: The final, deeply satisfying conclusion to the trilogy of Swedish thrillers based on Stieg Larsson's bestselling novels. Read more