Like a punch to the stomach, in a good way

Rating: 8/10 (17 December 2011)

Mikael Blomkvist is a staunch reporter, now facing jail-time for a fabricated exposé on a businessman. His face is everywhere, and he takes a leave of absence from his paper to avoid sullying its name with the scandal. With time before his sentence is carried out and nothing to lose, he agrees to investigate a 40-year-old murder case, where he partners up with a Goth expert hacker, Lisbeth Salander. The duo have an amusing odd couple dynamic, and in general, the characters are interesting and memorable. This is a deeply disturbing, gritty, brutal, dark film(albeit the amount of actual blood and gore is small; the sexual content is strong and plentiful). The thematic of authority figures abusing their power and particularly attacking women(the original title of Men Who Hate Women seems far more fitting than this "Dragon Tattoo" stuff, but oh well) is explored well. This has a fantastic pace, the two hour, twenty minute running time flies right by. The mystery is gripping, and it keeps you guessing whilst allowing the viewer to piece it all together as the leads do so. And the investigation isn't made easier by the entire Vanger clan being suspects for the death of, well, one of their own, so they could inherit the empire(and no two of these people can stand each other... so, really, just like any other family). That does bring me to one issue; there are entirely too many people to keep track of, specifically in this mass of potential killers. We can't remember all of them(the one aspect where that is true of this movie, and where I could see this being better as a mini-series), and it feels like a side-effect of this being a novel adaptation(I can't compare the two versions, as I have not read it), since books can spend more time delving into a large ensemble. The humor is bleak and, in a cynical way, satisfying. This has phenomenal acting, particularly by Rapace. Her role is intriguing, and you want to know more about her. This feels really credible(everyone's actions make sense) and realistic. I haven't watched this dubbed, but like I always say on this issue, deal with the subtitles. It's best in the native tongue. The DVD comes with "exclusive"(they look like the ones they showed in theatres when these were coming out) trailers for this, the second one and a teaser for the third one. I recommend this to anyone who can handle the content. 8/10