Men Who Hate Bad Thrillers

Rating: 5/10 (21 March 2010)

Okay, okay, not that bad, just moderately entertaining without being particularly memorable or gripping.
This condensed adaptation of a much-hyped Swedish page-turner starts promisingly and features an intensely portrayed female character - not to mention a strong subplot about her taking revenge on one of those titular misogynists -, but the basic mystery plot has nothing to offer you haven't seen before in dozens of other thrillers and whodunits: red herrings, mysterious assassinations, dark attics and even darker cellars, blurry photographs and false identities, archive and (we live in modern times) internet research and encoded messages, and, of courses, lots of hidden secrets and several (not too surprising) denouements.
You feel like watching a compendium of narrative genre clichés told in a pedestrian fashion, but, at least, it's done without the shrill idiocy of most Hollywood thrillers.
5 out of 10 forced tattoos