Disturbing Swedish thriller

Rating: 7/10 (4 January 2020)

I watched this after seeing Catwoman, however while that is a piece of meaningless fluff, this purports to be something with more serious intent. The trouble is, I don't find Lisbeth Salander much more credible than Catwonan. She seems to be just about as indestructible. The basic story involves a journalist who is asked by an aging industrialist to investigate the disappearance of his niece some forty years ago. However, the investigation throws up something much darker - that there has been a serial killer who is in some way involved. The disappearance of the girl is a kind of locked room mystery, or rather an island cut off from the mainland by a blocked bridge. The film basically follows the plot of the book, with just a few changes which seem to be to fit it into the film's running time, although it still runs for two and a half hours. Does it work? On the whole I think it does, if you can accept the more improbable aspects of the plot, and credit must be given to Noomi Rapace for her portrayal of Lisbeth Salander. I found the film to be alternately gripping and repellant. I found myself wondering whether the film was condemning violence against women, or exploiting it. It seem to be a thin line there, which the film occasionally strays to the wrong side of. So a good effort, but flawed.