Humph.  This one sucks.

Remaining from the first film are the strong performances, well-done natural cinematography, and general strong directing.  What was somewhat of a problem in the first film, though, destroys this one; the story sucks.  Absolutely at no point does anyone do anything interesting, ever.  The mystery is lame, the sleuthing is boring, Blomkvist and Salander don't even see each other, the twists are dumb, and the stakes are paltry.  There's simply nothing going on in this film at any point, and it lasts for two and a half hours.

The sex feels more gratuitous and the more intense story moments feel much less powerful than in the first film.

I haven't read the books, so I'm not sure if the plot of the third will be more interesting, but if you have and it isn't, then I recommend skipping this one altogether.  The only reason to see it would be to set yourself up for the third.

Oh and DO NOT see this until you have seen the first.  I feel like you'd be completely lost if you did so.

SPOILER OF SORTS:

The last act bears an amusing resemblance to Faster Pussycat!  Kill!  Kill!  Probably not what we were meant to be thinking of at that point in the movie, but one can't really help it considering the characters...

What did you expect when they rushed out a series and three films in one year?

I read all these comments about Hollywood this and Hollywood that but foreign filmmakers are just as bad.

At least Hollywood waits a few years to disappoint fans.

How many years will it be until we are disappointed by Spiderman and X-men the continuing sagas of why the fuck are you continuing.