A descent adaptation, but the Swedish version & book are better

Rating: 7/10 (26 April 2020)

The American version changes strange things, most likely to make it more palatable to that audience. The relationships are more conventional and less complex. The main plot is truncated, the sub plots that bolster what the point of the story is--which was to show sexism and misogyny at a societal level, personal level for the characters, and an institutional level. The book makes it clear. It starts out with stats about how many women in Sweden have been sexually assaulted. The Swedish version is better at this, this version is pretty much just a straight up mystery, rape-revenge, catch-a-killer trope, which is a disappointment.
The story in this version has strange pacing as well, mostly because it wants to tie up multiple plot points from sub plots not introduced at all, or are briefly mentioned only. Some major details are changed as well, which I assume is to make it shorter despite it being pretty long already.
Additionally, though it's hard to get across on the screen, I really recommend reading the book because the ways in which Lisbeth thinks is not neurotypical and I think is fundamental to her character. The movies kind of elude to it, but being in both the main characters headspace is important for the story. Again, the Swedish version is better at it than this one. This is very American. Also, why the hell aren't they speaking Swedish? They're IN Sweden. They have weird accents instead.
Some weird decisions with this movie. But overall, it was decent. If you did like it, totally check out the book, though. There's so much more there. Or at least look for the Swedish version, extended or otherwise.