Faithful Re-Creation Of The Swedish Film

Rating: 8/10 (4 January 2014)

A very well-done film - and it rivals the quality of the original Swedish film it obviously emulates, in style and substance.
Daniel Craig is great here as the male lead - it's one of his best performances.
And the story is told with all of the edge and darkness of the original. I didn't feel the need - having seen the original - for its being re-made, but a friend took me to this film and it didn't disappoint.
I disagree with reviewers, however, who argue that this film makes a feminist statement. Yes, a woman is abused here; but men are abused in other films, and in real life too. We're all human and we all face trouble from time to time - which is why we can also sympathize if not empathize with the female lead as she struggles to overcome a difficult past. You do not have to be a woman to feel her pain or root for her search for justice, if not revenge. We root for her just as we root for a Wyatt Earp when his brother is killed and another maimed by a band of outlaws. This is a story about injustice and a corrupt system that protects some very bad people - not unique in the annals of history or film (which is why we all can care and relate to it).
Well done. Worth seeing.
Does it rise above the level of its genre, that of a "thriller"? I'm not sure. That's why I did not give it 9 stars. But it's an exhilarating and intense ride and rivets you to the very end.