a film by Daniel Alfredson
A Swedish mystery and crime thriller adapted from the novel by Stieg Larsson, the third book in his Millennium series. Lisbeth Salander is hospitalised after the meeting with her father, and later put on trial. Mikael Blomkvist takes on the task of proving she is innocent as he continues to uncover the reasons why Lisbeth has been treated so harshly by the Swedish authorities.
Lisbeth is airlifted to a hospital in Gothenburg where surgeons remove bullets from her shoulder, hip and head, bullets fired by her father, Alexander Zalachenko. She is cared for by Dr Anders Jonasson, who prevents anyone except her lawyer from visiting. At the same time Evert Gullberg and Fredrik Clinton, old colleagues from the Section, a group within the Swedish Security Service, reconnect and decide that they must silence Zalachenko and Lisbeth to preserve Cold War secrets. Still alive, Zalachenko is in a hospital room down the corridor from Lisbeth.
Blomkvist asks his sister, Annika, to be Lisbeth's lawyer in her forthcoming murder trial. Gullberg arrives at the hospital at the same time as Annika, proceeds to Zalachenko's room, and shoots him dead. Annika saves Lisbeth by barricading the door to her hospital room, preventing Gullberg from killing her too. Gullberg then shoots himself. Clinton visits psychiatrist Dr Peter Teleborian, and explains his plan to silence Lisbeth by having her committed to St Stefan's mental hospital again. Teleborian tries to meet with Lisbeth to conduct a psychiatric assessment but is prevented by Dr Jonasson.
Blomkvist persuades Dr Jonasson to sneak an internet phone into Lisbeth's room, whereupon Lisbeth immediately contacts her information source, Plague, to see if he can find something on Teleborian, and then tells Blomkvist that Annika has permission to use a video of Bjurman – her former guardian and one of the people she is accused of murdering – raping her. Blomkvist compels a civil servant, Bertil Janeryd, to reveal that Gullberg and Hans von Rottinger had visited the Prime Minister years ago to urge a cover-up of the Zalachenko affair.
Lisbeth starts working on an autobiography to document her actions and motives from childhood to the present. She continues to have nightmares of memories about her time at St Stefan's, her father and half-brother, and of her rape by Bjurman. Blomkvist continues to pursue Teleborian, with Christer's help. They also follow a Section member to a flat that Clinton had been to four hours before. Lisbeth finishes her autobiography and sends it to Blomkvist, and Dr Jonasson informs Lisbeth she cannot remain at the hospital but must be transferred to prison in a couple of days. He is surprised that she is not worried about the trial.
The strongman Niedermann, who previously tried to kill Lisbeth's best friend, has remained a fugitive, wanted for killing a police officer. Sonny, of the motorcycle gang is informed that he was searched, but found clean, and that his friend had sent Niedermann to hide out in his home. There, he finds his brother dead and his girlfriend tied, gagged, and apparently assaulted. She tells him that Niedermann was the culprit, and Sonny vows revenge. Clinton, in dialysis, is given a copy of Lisbeth's autobiography, and is told that none of it can be proven. Meanwhile, Erika, who has left her job at Millennium to take over as editor of a large daily newspaper, has been receiving anonymous, violently obscene hate mail, which causes an uproar in the office. In prison, Lisbeth is interrogated by the prosecutor but says nothing. Annika is later given Lisbeth's computer and the DVD, which she watches. Teleborian finally meets with Lisbeth, who again remains silent.
Erika's bedroom window has been smashed, and in desperation she has called Milton Security. Blomkvist learns that someone has just broken into his apartment and planted cocaine and cash there. He concludes that they are trying to frame him, since they cannot hurt the magazine. Blomkvist decides to meet Erika at a restaurant named Samir's Gryta. The police try to warn Blomkvist of an attempt to kill them there, and he fends off the assault as the police hurry towards the restaurant. The Section is dismayed to find their hired hit men have failed.
On the day of her murder trial, Lisbeth enters court with piercings, a mohawk hairstyle, black makeup, and dark clothing. Called as an expert witness for the prosecution, Teleborian characterises Lisbeth's autobiography as merely the product of her paranoid delusions. Annika gradually demolishes Teleborian's credibility, using Lisbeth's words and files from the hospital. She shows the video proving Bjurman raped Lisbeth, demonstrating that her statements were completely true. As Annika presents her case, the police arrest the people involved with the Section and seize their place of operation. Called to the stand, Blomkvist shows that Teleborian had written his psychiatric assessment before he had even been allowed to interview Lisbeth. Then Annika calls Edklinth to the stand, and he states that the opinions were formulated in cooperation with Jonas Sandberg, using his computer as proof. Teleborian is left speechless. Edklinth tells Teleborian he is to be arrested on charges of possessing over 8,000 items of child pornography, which Plague had discovered after hacking his laptop, and his computer is seized as evidence. After Teleborian is arrested, the court rules that there is no further need for Lisbeth to be detained in custody.
The Millennium workers celebrate their victory, as Erika leaves the newspaper job and returns as editor in chief. Lisbeth is encouraged by Annika to check the property she has inherited from Zalachenko and discovers the warehouse where Niedermann is in hiding. Niedermann attempts to trap her in the warehouse and kill her, but she is too fast for him. She uses a nail gun to nail Niedermann's feet to the floor. She considers nailing him in the head but instead phones Sonny and tells the bikers where to find him. Then she calls the police after the bikers arrive. Lisbeth returns home and Blomkvist visits to tell her that the motorcycle gang killed Niedermann and were arrested soon after. Lisbeth and Blomkvist have a brief, but emotionally tense conversation, in which she thanks him for everything. As he is about to leave, Lisbeth agrees to stay in touch, which may or may not be a prelude to a future relationship.
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