The first in the series is titled The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and sees Blomkvist, journalist for underground magazine Millennium, investigate the mysterious disappearance of a wealthy businessman's granddaughter while also fighting a court case, and subsequent jail term, handed to him for his expose style journalism. Lisbeth, a talented computer hacker, is initially hired to investigate Blomkvist but becomes involved in his work after finding information pertinent to his case. The two strike up a relationship and uncover a web of deceit through a well-to-do family and the upper-echelons of Swedish business. During this Lisbeth also has to contend with her sadistic custodian which add the scenes of sexual violence to the film and we are also faced with serial killers and Swedish Nazi's as the cherry on top of the already well-baked cake. To be honest there are only two things I would criticise the three films for and they are all apparent throughout each addition to the series. The first is that there are so many characters, and so many sub-plots that the films feel bloated to the point of combustion. The second, related to the first, is the running time for each film with them all coming in at well over 2 hours. The only time I really had a problem with this was in the second installment which I though was the weakest of the three.
During The Girl Who Played with Fire we delve deeper into the psyche of Lisbeth Salander who returns to Sweden after a year abroad to be faced with charges for the murder of a journalist, his girlfriend and the sadistic guardian mentioned earlier. The film sees revelations about Lisbeth's childhood and the film ends with a climatic battle between Salander and her father/brother. This film suffers from being devoid of the chemistry so successful between the protagonists in the first outing. Mikhael's searching for Lisbeth and his continued relationship with his magazine colleague are slightly unconvincing and, after the themes of the first, the second film feels a little tame in comparison. 
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest is the final film in the series and begins with Lisbeth in hospital following the showdown at the end of the second film. Still facing the murder charges, Blomkvist does what he can to attempt to prove her innocence but has to deal with Salander's continual uncooperative behaviour which threatens to derail their progress at every other turn. Going from hospital to police custody we see less of Salander's talents and are faced with more of a race against time which follows a more familiar 'thriller' narrative structure. Again the film suffers slightly from the sheer number of characters but I did find myself slowing move towards the edge of my seat as the film, and the series, neared conclusion. The consecutive releases of the films within the period of a year worked well and resulted in the characters becoming so familiar that it would have been hard not to care about the outcome and well-being of each.
The influence for the series has been reported as Larsson's real-life witness to the gang-rape of a young girl named Lisbeth and his abhorrence of sexual violence from that point forth. This is also reflected in the original title given to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo of Män Som Hatar Kvinnor which translated as Men who Hate Women. I have to admit to seeing the films before reading any of the books but was impressed enough with the first film in the series to read the material from which it was adapted. I found the book to be a little slow paced which, although worked well throughout the cinematic series, struggled to hold my attention. I understand how I am in the minority with this opinion but preferred the character portrayals offered by the films.
The Hollywood remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is due for release December 21st 2011 and will star Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara in the lead roles. I suggest you see the Swedish trilogy first.
Official Site - http://dragontattoofilm.com/
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