Definite improvement upon the Swedish version

Rating: 8/10 (28 January 2012)

Let me just start by saying that I have both read the book and seen all three of the Swedish films, so going into the theater I knew what to expect. And I have only positive things to say. Sure, a lot of the scenes in this version resemble those in the Swedish one, but that was to be expected, wasn't it? I mean, both films are adapted from the same novel!
About the film itself: As you might expect from an American remake with David Fincher behind the wheel the film is a lot more action packed and goes through events a little faster than the Swedish version. The cast is superb and very well picked, and the atmosphere throughout is very dense and isolated. As the story slowly unravels it becomes more and more gruesome and mysterious, and it grabs you and doesn't let go for the next hour and a half. Then what seems like the showdown arrives, but the real answer to the great mystery is even more surprising than you think, and it's something you couldn't have possibly thought of, but which, when you think about it later (as I'm doing now) is pretty much the only logical one. As the final scenes, which make the connection with the second book, play out you can't help but feel sad that it had to end so soon.
SUMMARY FOR THOSE WHO DON'T FEEL LIKE READING THE ABOVE: This film is definitely better than the Swedish version, and its mystery has a way of gripping you and not letting you go until the end. You should see it.