The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (2009)

The Swedish-Danish-German production, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest (2009), was directed by Daniel Alfredson and written by Ulf Rydberg. It is based on the novel of the same name by Stieg Larsson. Following the events in The Girl Who Played with Fire, computer hacker Lisbeth Salander is taken to a hospital in Gothenburg to recover from gunshot wounds inflicted by her father, crime boss Alexander Zalachenko. Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist whom Salander had previously assisted, continues his efforts to clear her name from murder charges. He knows that she was set up by the ‘Section’, a group within the Swedish Security Service responsible for sheltering Zalachenko after he defected from the Soviet Union.

In order to protect their secrets, Section members Evert Gullberg and Fredrik Clinton plot to silence both Zalachenko and Salander. Upon arriving at the hospital, Gullberg takes the life of Zalachenko before ultimately ending his own. Despite his efforts, he is unable to reach Salander. Meanwhile, Clinton has devised a plan to have Salander returned to the mental hospital she was placed in as a child after her attack on Zalachenko. The mastermind behind this plot is Dr. Peter Teleborian, the hospital administrator who subjected Salander to harsh treatment, including restraints for minor offenses. Blomkvist manages to persuade one of Salander’s doctors to sneak an Internet phone into her room so she can contact Plague, her fellow hacker, in hopes of uncovering something about Teleborian.