Reviewed by David T Hay
This is the first of late author Stieg Larsson's bestselling Millennium Trilogy novels to hit the big screen, with Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist (As it is in Heaven) taking on the lead role of Mikael Blomkvist.
Blomkvist is a crusading journalist whose career has just gone spectacularly wrong. Then, out of nowhere pops a reclusive billionaire tycoon, Henrik Vanger, with a mystery to solve and Blomkvist is back in business. The quest: to finally get to the bottom of the disappearance of Vanger's niece 40 years ago.
Blomkvist abandons his worries by relocating to Vanger's suitably beautiful and mysterious estate and throws himself into the investigation. He eventually teams up with troubled techy, Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace), the tattooed girl of the title.
There are lots of things to like about this film, especially if you're keen on entertaining villains and inventive sadism. The script has plenty of twists and turns and rips along fast enough for us not to dwell on the odd flash of preposterousness.
The character of Salander is compelling and ambiguous, and like the dramatic wintry Swedish countryside in which the film is set, she is at turns benign and cruel.
Unfortunately, this film probably ticks the boxes of it's genre a little too readily and as such becomes somewhat predictable. In the end it is simply a modern re-imagining of a good old whodunit. At one point there was even a gathering of suspects in the parlour that had me expecting the arrival of Colonel Mustard at any moment.
3 and half stars.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
:: Director: Niels Arden Oplev
:: Starring: Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace
:: Running Time: 152 mins
:: Rating: R16 - Contains Violence, Sexual Violence & Offensive Language
