In a new adaption of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Lisbeth Salander, the Swedish hacker, returns with Mikael Blomkvist, editor of Millennium Magazine. To start, we see them solve a murder mystery involving murders of women and a serial killer. Also, Lisbeth and Blomkvist put away Hans-Erik Wennerstrom, CEO of an international multinational corporation involved in international crime. Additionally, Lisbeth hacks a Cayman Island bank of 2 billion euros. These are the story lines behind this recent adaption.
To begin, Henrik Vanger hires Mikael Blomkvist, editor of Millennium magazine, to investigate his family, Vangers, of murder. “You will be investigating thieves, misers, bullies. The most detestable collection of people you will ever meet. My family,” Henry confesses to Blomkvist during a private meeting.
As the film continues, we learn Lisbeth has built an illegal file on a character named Hans-Erik Wennerstrom, the bad guy in this movie. “You were quite emphatic that the way I looked into your life was illegal and immoral. Would you feel the same about Wennerstrom?” says Lisbeth about Wennerstrom to Blomkvist.
Apparently, Hans-Erik Wennerstrom, CEO of the Wennerstrom Group, made his wealth off Russian crime. “They laundered money from arms and drugs sales and crime syndicates in Russia. And that money accounts for all but 5 percent of his holdings. The rest ends up in accounts in the Cayman Islands,” Mikael Blomkvist says to his girlfriend, Erika Berger, co-editor and owner Millennium Magazine.
Having made his money off crime, the Swedish Securities Commission is after Wennerstrom, due to corruption allegations made by Blomkvist. “The Securities Fraud Office isn’t quite as certain as Mr. Wennerstrom of that. If a fraction of what Mr. Blomkvist alleges proves to be true, not only will there be a securities investigation but an organized-crime inquiry as well,” the news reports.
In fact, the Swedish news is all over the Wennerstrom corruption story. “Mr. Blomkvist names no sources.” Securities says, “We can’t force him to. But we can look for them beginning with those closest to Mr. Wennerstrom. Only someone in the inner circle of a corporation like this could of accessed this kind of information,” the securities office says on the local TV.
The news reports a warrant has been issued for Wennerstrom. “With his failure to appear before a Securities Exchange Commission panel a warrant has been issued for the Wennerstrom Group CEO,” the news says.
During Wennerstrom’s financial problems, Lisbeth hacks his bank accounts. “I have accounts at Bank of Kroenenfeld, Cayman Islands. I’d like to transfer those accounts and convert them to bonds,” Lisbeth tells a bank official.
Lisbeth starts with clearing out Wennerstrom’s bank accounts in the Cayman Island banks. “Naturally, you have the clearing codes. How many accounts will you transfer?” the Cayman Island banker says. “30,” replies Lisbeth. “This will take some time,” responds the banker, again. “Which you will receive a full percent commission,” Lisbeth adds.
As Lisbeth clears out Wennerstrom’s bank accounts, the news reports of Whennerstrom’s financial woes. “The man who is now being called Sweden’s Charles Ponzi may no longer have a country to call home… According to the International Banking Commission, Wennernstrom, a week after the Millennium article appeared on newsstands, began emptying accounts at Bank of Kroenenfeld in the Cayman Islands. That money, approximately 2 billion euros was then spread over a number of accounts with the help of this confederate seen here in Zurich,” a Swedish news station reports.
In summary, the movie was ok. For the most part it was similar to the original film. However, in this version, we learn some new things about Wennerstrom; that is, Wennerstrom was a past employee of Henrik Vanger’s corporation. Moreover, it’s suggested that Henrik wanted Blomkvist to destroy Wennerstrom, because he had embezzled money and helped give the Vanger family a bad name to begin his crime business. Anyways, I suggest you skip over the dirty parts of the movie like I did in order to enjoy the movie.
