A smut film for the masses

Rating: 3/10 (23 December 2011)

First off, I want to say that I have not seen the original Swedish adaptation and I have not read the book. This is simply a review of the movie itself, judging as nothing more than a movie. Also, this will contain spoilers.
Call me crazy, but I don't get this movie. That is not to say that I don't understand what happened, but I do not understand the point of this movie. From my seat, it seemed like a movie that is vulgar for the sake of being vulgar and cruel for the sake of being cruel.
The rape scene was completely disgusting. Furthermore, I am not entirely sure what the point of the whole sequence with the social worker really added to the movie. Lisbeth had a very difficult and dark life, I am not sure that we really needed to see it to that intensity.
Then we have the actual plot itself. Mikael is hired to track down Henrik Vanger's granddaughter who he believes was murdered decades earlier by another member of the family. Mikael and Lisbeth end up discovering that they are looking for a serial killer within the family which turns out to be a father and son and get this, it has almost nothing to do with the actual disappearance of Hillary, the granddaughter.
Then there is the ending, after Mikael and Lisbeth have a little bit of a tryst during their hunt for Hillary, Lisbeth gets completely forgot by Mikael who goes back to his girlfriend.
In short, the movie is all about taking a huge, gigantic dump on the girl with the dragon tattoo for no apparent reason.