The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Rating: 9/10 (17 June 2012)

Shortly after receiving a six month jail sentence, which he won't start serving for six months, journalist Mikael Blomkvist receives an interesting job offer; Henrik Vanger, an elderly man, wants him to investigate the disappearance, and presumed murder, of his great niece who was last seen when she was sixteen in 1966. He is convinced that the killer must still be alive as somebody is sending him pictures of flowers each birthday just as she did; clearly somebody out there is taunting him. Before hiring him Henrik had Blomkvist checked out by a security company who employed young hacker Lisbeth Salander to investigate him; she continues to show an interest in him and follows his investigations by hacking his laptop. She makes an important breakthrough and contacts him; after that they join up and continue an investigation that unearths murders of women going back to the '40s, Nazi sympathisers within Vanger's family and ultimately the realisation that the killings have not stopped and they are in grave danger.
That covers the core mystery but almost as important is Lisbeth's back story; we learn early on that she is in the official custody of a state appointed guardian who has the power to have her sent back to a psychiatric unit if she doesn't do what she is supposed to. When given a new guardian he uses this authority to force her into performing sexual favours and ultimately, in a particularly gruelling scene he rapes her. She shows her strength by later turning the tables on him; it isn't for some time though that we learn what her original offence was.
Having watched several Scandinavian TV dramas in the last few years I was keen to see this film; I must say I was not disappointed... although I do wish the subtitles had been a little larger! At two and a half hours it isn't a short film but I never found myself looking at the clock as the time flew by. The characters were great; particularly Blomkvist and Lisbeth; actors Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace did a fantastic job bringing the characters to life. The mystery itself was gripping and there were a few edge-of-seat moments when it looked as if one of the investigators might not survive. There are a couple of particularly gruelling scenes of a sexual nature, that earned the film its '18' certificate, which might put off some viewers however if you can get through those there isn't anything else too disturbing. Aside from having great characters and an interesting mystery the film looks great with beautiful Swedish winter scenery. I can't say how good an adaptation of the book this is or how it compares to the more recent English language remake but I'd certainly recommend it to anybody wanting a thriller that doesn't over rely on nonstop action or special effects.