A Dark Mysterious Thrill

Rating: 7/10 (5 February 2015)

As someone who has not read the book or seen the original Swede version, I felt like the film left some questions undisclosed. It had a lot of characters and even towards the end I felt a little overwhelmed with all of the story-lines just like Mikael at the beginning when he is learning the Vanger family tree. When Martin is finally caught and disposed of, they never really give an explanation of his motive only that he did not kill his sister. The writer seemed to think that that was enough, but I felt it lacked a believable reason.
The ending was obviously a set up for a sequel and it almost seemed like a distraction. Was this film about Mikael Blomkvist? Or the girl with the dragon tattoo? Or the mystery of the disappearance of Harriet? It was almost as if they were telling three stories at once and didn't really focus enough on each one. The relationship between Mikael and Lisbeth was came out of no where and was just weird as it didn't seem fitting with her personality. The performances were all excellent especially Roony Mara. I would also applaud the makeup for their transformation of her character and also the special effects team for the wonderful opening credits. While it did have its faults, I found it thrilling, pretty well made, an interesting plot, and it would make me want to see a second film if they ever make one.