Brilliant

Rating: 9/10 (18 August 2010)

This is the way Hollywood should learn to balance the suspense of a thriller and the character of a good drama. The chemistry between the two leads and their ability to convey the complexities of their relationship are a huge draw when watching this movie.
The girl is complex, and this first movie in the trilogy only gives a glimpse of her back story - a violent young woman, who at 24 years old is still saddled with a guardian who wants to oversee her money and all her activities. Even though she is the title character, the investigator/journalist who crosses paths with her is really the driving persona in the story. We follow him into a murder mystery, where her story is only a backdrop to her character and her motivation for helping the investigation.
The murder mystery itself is just as compelling as it begins to take the lead. While the structure of setting up such complex characters before getting into the main storyline is a little foreign to the American audience, it's necessary for a story with such characters and it's handled seamlessly here. The story never loses its drive, and its climax touching on issues of race dynamics, twisted psychologies and dysfunctional families, is worth every moment of the film's buildup.
And the second movie in the trilogy is even better!