a film by Daniel Alfredson
A Swedish mystery and crime thriller adapted from the novel by Stieg Larsson, the second book in his Millennium series. The film follows Lisbeth Salander returning to Sweden after spending a year abroad. Having returned, she falls under suspicion of having committed the murder of a journalist and his girlfriend as well as her guardian Nils Bjurman. Mikael Blomkvist has to do what he can to find her before the authorities do.
With her new wealth, Lisbeth purchases an apartment in Stockholm. On returning to Sweden, she reconnects with her girlfriend, Miriam Wu and offers her free use of her previous apartment in return for forwarding her mail. Later, Lisbeth confronts her guardian, Bjurman after hacking into his email account and discovering he has an appointment booked with a tattoo removal specialist. Threatening him with his own gun, she warns him not to remove the tattoo that she etched on his stomach as revenge for sexually abusing her, marking him as a pervert, a rapist and a sadistic pig.
Millennium magazine welcomes Dag Svensson, a new journalist who is writing an exposé on prostitution and human trafficking in Sweden. Dag's girlfriend, Mia Bergman, is writing her doctoral thesis on sex trafficking. Dag is nearly finished with the story and is confronting those who will be exposed by the article. Dag and his girlfriend are about to leave on a holiday and he asks Blomkvist to come to his apartment and collect some photographs. At the same time Dag also asks Blomkvist to inquire about someone called Zala, who may have a connection to his present research. Blomkvist arrives at their apartment late at night to collect the photographs for the article but finds them shot dead. The gun used is traced to Bjurman, who is also dead. Lisbeth is the prime suspect, as her fingerprints are on the gun.
Bublanski, the police officer leading the investigation, advises Blomkvist that he should stay out of it. Lisbeth tells Blomkvist she did not kill Dag and Mia and that he needs to find the mysterious Zala. In an effort to find Lisbeth, Blomkvist contacts her boxing trainer and friend, Paolo Roberto. While he is unaware of Lisbeth's whereabouts, he does know Miriam, who also trained with them, and promises to pay her a visit. Near her apartment, Paolo witnesses Miriam being kidnapped by strongman Niedermann. Paolo follows his car to a deserted barn, where he hears him beat Miriam for information about Lisbeth. Paolo comes in to rescue her but Niedermann incapacitates him. Niedermann sets the barn aflame, believing he has killed Paolo and Miriam, but they have actually escaped.
News breaks of the attack and Paolo gives his account to the police. After Blomkvist leaves information he has discovered about the case on his computer for Lisbeth to hack into and read, she leaves a message to him saying, "Thank you for being my friend". He realises that she intends to set out alone to find the man who framed her and that she may not survive. A disguised Lisbeth visits Miriam in hospital to apologise for getting her involved. Without giving anything away, Lisbeth confirms the police sketch of Niedermann with Miriam and then disappears. Knowing now that he is Lisbeth's friend, Miriam calls Blomkvist to the hospital to give him keys that Lisbeth dropped accidentally during her visit. Noticing they are for a post office box, Blomkvist is able to access and read Lisbeth's mail and track down her apartment. Meanwhile, Lisbeth continues her efforts to find Niedermann by watching his post office box. She sees someone check the post box and follows him to a small house near Gosseberga. Searching through the material in her apartment Blomkvist finds the video of Bjurman raping Lisbeth.
In the offices of Millennium magazine, Paolo explains he tracked down Niedermann and learned that he has congenital analgesia, he is unable to feel pain. They trace Niedermann to a company owned by Karl Axel Bodin. Blomkvist has Erika Berger make copies of the documents including the 1993 police report, forwards the originals to Bublanski, and sets out to find Lisbeth.
Lisbeth crosses the grounds and enters the Gosseberga house, but Niedermann has been alerted by motion detectors and knocks her out. She awakens to see her father, Zalachenko, an old man who walks with a stick and is heavily scarred by the burns she inflicted as a child. He dismisses her mother as a whore and belittles her rape at the hands of Bjurman. He reveals that Niedermann is her half-brother. Niedermann killed Bjurman to prevent him from revealing any of Zalachenko's secrets. Zalachenko is confident he will not be caught, since being an invalid means the idea of his involvement in the murders lacks plausibility.
They lead Lisbeth to a shallow grave in the woods. She tells him the police will find him soon and all that he has said has been published online through her hidden cellphone. Seeing through her bluff, he shoots her as she attempts to escape and buries her alive. Left for dead, Lisbeth digs her way out using her cigarette case. Hidden in the woodshed, she surprises Zalachenko with an axe to the head. Lisbeth scares Niedermann off with the help of Zalachenko's gun, just as Blomkvist finds them. Ambulances and police arrive to take away Lisbeth and a still living Zalachenko.
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