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Hot off the tails of watching The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, I accompanied my sister to see its sequel in the theater. It was packed. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what it is about these stories that attract the reader/viewer so much. To my dismay, there was a boy of about 12 in the audience. I really hope they got him out of there before he saw the gratuitous female sex scene. That's right, just like the first in the series, this one takes things farther than they need to go for no real reason. I'm not the only person who found it distasteful; the entire audience seemed to squirm and groan during it.

In this movie, the story picks up not too long after the first. Lisbeth has disappeared from her world for a little while and returns just in time to be proclaimed the prime suspect in the murder of her corrupt parole sponsor. Her case is linked with a sex trafficking ring that Blomkvist's fellow journalists have been investigating. Again, Lisbeth and Blomkvist each work most of the time on their own to try and track down the bad guys, and eventually they join forces.

Thankfully, this movie delves more into the psych of Lisbeth, so we actually have an idea of who she is and why she is the way she is. The first movie hinted at it, but here we learn about her traumatized childhood and understand why she's a parolee. We learn slightly more about Blomkvist, but really, it's all about Lisbeth, and he's mostly around to be someone with whom the audience can relate.

Honestly, since I watched the two movies so closely together, both plots are a bit muddled for me. There is a big boxer who can't feel pain (which made me think about Homer Simpson); he's the giant who must be felled by the end of the movie. Half of me thought he was cool and the other thought I'd seen a similar character in several other movies.

I can't say that I didn't like this movie, but I can't say that I liked it either. For me, it was kind of a neutral experience of watching an investigative thriller, somewhat like something I'd watch on TV. Even though it kept my interest, I still feel like the details of Lisbeth's emotional journey and the people she interacts with all feel forced (or stale), and the gratuitous material still feels entirely pointless. At this rate, I may see the third movie just to find out if this trilogy has some sort of payoff, but I'm certainly not waiting with baited breath for the next installment.