Don't get excited, it's just classic noir elements with a lick of paint.

Rating: 6/10 (26 December 2011)

After finally catching up with this one, after all the hype and bluster it was something of a letdown. Not a disaster, nor even a complete failure, but it didn't live up to the claims of excellence. 'TGWTDT', for all its computer-hacking punky female lead and squirm-worthy scenes of sado-masochism, is a firm-handed throwback to the film noir 1940s. You've seen this sort of story before; detective gets hired for an unusual case, hooks up with a spunky can-do girl assistant and both put their lives in danger when they discover more than they bargained for. The movie goes on for around thirty minutes too long, there are a couple of painfully glaring plot holes (we're asked to believe that an expert computer hacker can't arrange an alternative bank account for herself, for example) and the evil social-worker sub-plot was pretty much as unnecessary as it was unpleasant. Most crucially, it was just a little too hard to empathise with Lisbeth, which would have helped immensely, but as a character she remained too 'distant'. Whilst the acting was merely okay, it was the unfolding of the movie's old-fashioned hard-boiled thriller plot which commanded the attention, and the direction was well up to par although there could have been more 'tautness' to the whole. A mixed bag, but one to be enjoyed (bar the 'social worker' subplot) as basically a homage (intentionally or not) to classic film noir.