Blast! Now I'll have to read the books!

Rating: 9/10 (28 June 2010)

THIS ***WILL*** CONTAIN SPOILERS.
I saw this movie because I thought I would never read the books and because it received excellent reviews. Now I'm going to have to read the series. (No reluctant reader here; I'm complaining only because I have a huge summer reading list, and I prefer to read books before or instead of seeing the movies.)
It was only after the movie that I saw the translated title _Men Who Hate Women_. That surprised me, because towards the end, I kept thinking that the movie addresses what happens when good men (Mikael Blomkvist, Henrik Vanger) genuinely value women and are willing to take us---and the pain that has been inflicted on so many of us---seriously. Their job is not to redeem men as a group, as all men do not require redemption, but to remind us that not all men buy into the role of abuser, and that some take a stand against it. There are a variety of kinds of allies. But now I have to read the books to find out if Henrik Vanger ever took a public or private stand against his brothers' Nazi involvement.
At least one previous reviewer decried the graphic nature of the violence. The two scenes in which Lisbeth Salander is abused were difficult to sit through, partly because I am a survivor of violence against women, and partly because I kept wondering why the camera lingered on the details of such horror. When she attacks her attacker, it became clear to me that the camera is reporting, not exploiting. There was no joy for me in what some may see as revenge, and none for her, either. It is only through the use of his "language" of physical domination and the threat of financial abuse that Lisbeth can get free of him and, perhaps, make it clear to unbelievers that rape is more than the legalistic definition of sex without consent; rape is degrading, profoundly dehumanizing, and not sexy in the least.
It struck me as thought-provoking violence, rather than gratuitous. It also made me consider the worth of retribution. (I saw the American edit, which means, if these other reviews are to be trusted, that I do not know how Lisbeth was tattooed. That might add another layer of understanding the scarification she performs as a reminder to the man of what he has done, as a warning to anyone who might voluntarily sleep with him, and as a consolation to anyone else he may abuse that this man has abused others, and one fought back.)
My brain just now reeled at the realization that the scene in the cellar near the end (when Mikael Blomkvist was looking at the dates and pictures of the women who had been murdered) is a mirror to the scene where the carpenter's (?) widow shows Mikael the honeymoon photos.
I loved that there were few actors who might be thought of as "Hollywood hot." Granted, they are all of similar BMIs, but the camera lingers over real faces: those that are hiding, those that are pockmarked, those that have wrinkles. It is those faces that are perceived to be imperfect that are the most lovely. It is a character's intention and a viewer's attention that create genuine beauty. The trope of Lisbeth's hair as both armor and vulnerability got a little old for me.
Many reviewers here commented positively on the music. There were many times that it was too formulaic, and one scene where I thought Angelo Badalamenti needed to be listed in the credits and receive residuals for the movie's borrowing of pieces of "Laura Palmer's Theme."
The cinematography was outstanding. Many Americans will not see movies with subtitles (which is why I had so much room at the theater) and will not stand for silences, thinking them wasted time. These silences are necessary at times for viewers to process the information they have received, to make predictions, and to think about the experience of watching the movie itself. As a Bollywood fan, I was not aware of the length of the movie at all, and was surprised to read about the run time(s) in the comments.
A previous commenter was concerned with the movie's end portraying Lisbeth as using the money she stole from a thief as a tool to become like the abusers, and I had the same problem as I watched. This situation may be addressed differently over the course of the novels and/or movies, but without a different resolution, her abuse of her law guardian becomes a mere imitation, not a move towards justice. And the domestic terrorists will have won.
It is my hope that this movie does not follow me into my dreams.