A usual good thriller but with a new incredible spice of a character

Rating: 8/10 (16 November 2010)

Based on the novel of the same name by Steig Larsson, having a title such as Men Who Hate Women clearly states that the film is disturbing. There are two main characters. Mikael Bloomkvist, a disgraced and humiliated journalist who is called upon by an ostracized member of the Vagner family to investigate the disappearance and possible murder of his niece Harriet. The other main character is the one that really grabs our attention. Lisbeth Salander, a strange, tattooed and pierced 24 year old who professionalizes in computer hacking. Her attention is fixed on violence against women, in which her own presence is a repeated victim of. A group of male thugs beat her, her guardian (which I don't remember why she needs him, but it's explaind in the later episodes) viciously and repeatedly rapes and beats her, all with no general reason except that she is a woman, living in a sadist man's world.
However, it becomes clear throughout the course of the film, that Lisbeth is a woman who does not take any crap from anyone. She scares the misogynist group of youths away with a broken bottle, screaming like a panther, leaving them shocked that she would defend herself and not succumb to their violence. She allows herself to get raped a second time only to video tape it, therefore using it against her rapist. She tortures him very brutally, sexually abusing him and tattooing him for what he really is, a sadist and a rapist pig. I found myself smiling when she did this.
She and Mikael come together in the middle of the film and they work on the case, leading them to shocking discoveries of brutal and hateful grisly murders, the story getting more and more twisted just like a normal good thriller should. Lisbeth is really the true heroine of the stories; a weird, strong and fascinating creature, played brilliantly by Noomi Rapace. The film, long, graphic, gory and very hard to watch and follow, is a brilliant Swedish masterpiece.