I walked into this with a blank slate.

Rating: 9/10 (6 February 2019)

I will be honest. As a professional physicist and part-time philosopher, the direction the real world is headed in generally frightens me. So when I switch off, I tend to hide away in science fiction and speculative fiction.
That is why I was surprised that I was drawn to this rather mundane and down to Earth story of a newspaper reporter and hacker/activist.
I did take exception at the number of foreigners trying to pass themselves off as scandinavians... while actual scandinavians ended up in the background...
Living in Japan for most of my life, I have been subjected to downright horrors such as Black Rain, Rising Sun, The Last Samurai and the most disappointing to me, the adaptation of Memoirs of a Geisha...
((I lived in the town where Geisha was going to be shot but the then mayor, in a sudden -ironically harakiri like- career truncating move, turned Spielberg down, resulting in a childishly bitter Spielberg hiring a Korean and Chinese cast and throwing away a chance at a decent movie....))
So trying to be authentic is something I take seriously and I think they inevitibly failed at bringing about a scandinavian atmosphere.
It was basically brits in winter with a few yanks...
Anyway, on to the movie...
From the outset, the portrayal of the outcast Lisbeth captivated me and since I had only watched one movie with Craig as Bond, I had very little baggage to contend with, taking him as Blomqvist.
The pacing was superb and the detailing along the way, impeccable. The music was at times jarring, though that might have been the intention.. I'm not really a soundtrack guy.
The core of the film, the protagonists, gain their viewers' attention and sympathy early on in the film, though it is not certain how they will end up meeting.
If I have one issue with Lisbeth's portrayal in this movie, it's how quickly she turns from flinching at Blomqvist's mere proximity after having been abused and then raped at the hands of her "social"worker to, a mere few hours later, getting naked with him and f''king his brains out.
Yes, she is supposedly insane, but I feel she more than just likely a superbly highly functioning autist... (I haven't read the books)
As someone who has been close to and looked after abuse victims in the past, I found this particular aspect rather... offputting... The brushing off of what was seemingly a lifetime of abuse since childhood (in and out of institutions and state care?)... at the mere presence of our rather dashing and masculine protag. did come across as a bit insensitive.
Perhaps if they had developed their characters a bit more and especially, her intense and sudden attraction to Bq, I might have found that particular aspect of the movie more palatable...
However, despite that, the whole story was compelling and the characters relatable enough that I found to my surprise, I truly cared about the outcome enough to watch a 155 minute film...
Very entertaining and stimulating movie... I look forward to future installments.