Very impressive Swedish rendition of The Millennium Trilogy

Rating: Null/10 (14 October 2010)

The "Millennium Trilogy" crime thriller from late Swedish novelist Stieg Larsson has stirred up considerable excitement in the global cinematic scene. While David Fincher's upcoming remakes undoubtedly creates expectation in the mass Hollywood fan, connoisseurs of the international cinema likely prefer the original Swedish rendition, even if they are not Bergman loyalists. Critics seem unanimously impressed with Noomi Rapace, some to the extent to comparing her casting to the titular role to similar discoveries such as Franka Potente in "Run Lola run".
The establishing scenes of this movie seem unusually long but make sense in relation to the two-and-a-half hour movie, which is in turn the first one of a trilogy, shooting of which has all been completed in 2009. In the first hour, we see in parallel the two protagonists. Lisbeth Salander is a 24-year-old computer wiz-hacker with a traumatic childhood. Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), barely old enough to be her father, is a divorced investigative journalist on a collision course with a powerful family of right-wing extremist which gets him into a libel suit and a prison term. He has six months of freedom before serving and is hired by an elderly billionaire to investigate the mysterious death (body not found) of a beloved niece forty years ago.
The story really starts, an hour into the movie, when the two protagonist meet and become partners in the investigation. The plot itself (gruesome serial sex murders with Biblical overtone), while serviceable, is not exceptionally impressive, particularly to seasoned murder mystery fans. The main attraction of this movie, most agree, is in the characters.
Blomkvist is a mild-mannered, unspectacular hero that does not impress the audience by first sight but wins them over gradually with his gentle, unassuming, dependable persona. This makes for good complementing compatibility with Salander, tom-boyish looking, hard as a nail, and generally described as "damaged". Their relationship starts out quite professionally. Quite interesting is that she knows all about him (she has been "hacking" him) while he knows nothing about her, and seems content with this disparity. When on one occasion she seeks him out rather unexpectedly at night (they are staying together in a small bungalow close to the crime scene to facilitate investigation) as a provider of an orgasm, it can almost be described as business-like. This denotes trust more than passion and, in view of her traumatic past, is quite significant. As well, from behind her tough and icy appearance, there are fleeting moments, especially when she is concentrating on her work, of childlike innocence that betrays a trace of vulnerability.
The mood of this movie is by necessity somewhat gloomy but never suffocating. Shots of the beauty of Nordic natures are breathtaking. There is no lacking of sexual violence but these are necessary part of the story and not manipulative. But in the end, it is because of the characters that the audience would not want to miss the two sequels.