This is how a thriller should be done.

Rating: Null/10 (5 September 2010)

My wife rented this one from our local library. I remembered reading Roger Ebert's review of the sequel "The Girl Who Played with Fire" and being intrigued by this one. I personally am a huge fan of foreign films having seen entries from Mexico, Japan, Germany, Spain Italy and China but other than Bergman's "Fanny and Alexander" I was unfamiliar with Swedish cinema. I think it is the best film I have seen this year, a Swedish "The Silence of the lambs". It is much darker than anything Hollywood puts out but to European audiences the graphic violence and nudity i'm sure is fairly routine. The two leads Michael Nyqvist and especially Noomi Rapace are brilliant with Rapace especially deserving mention. Her Lisbeth Salander is the year's most nuanced female performance. When she is on screen you cannot take your eyes off her. Hollywood is already planning a remake of this to be directed by David Fincher. It can't top this one and no other actress on the planet can play Lisbeth after Noomi Rapace. If you can handle the subtitles and the graphic violence plus the 2 hour and 25 minute run time you won't see a more compelling piece of cinema this year.