The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Think Law and Order: SVU meets The Davinci Code sprinkled with a bit of Basic Instinct and you have the wonderful Sweedish import The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo.

Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) is a noted Swedish investigative journalist on the verge of being railroaded into prison for a series of recent articles about a particular company’s alleged malfeasance. Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) is a computer expert with a troubled past working for a security firm who specializes in finding out information no one, not even your priest, should ever know.

Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs Blomkvist and Lisbeth to investigate.

When the pair link Harriet's disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from almost forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history. But the Vanger's are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves.

The look of the film is familiar to a thousand police dramas. Blomkvist has a big board to which he has tacked numerous photographs, maps, memos and news clippings. Arrows and string helpfully link items.

It all looks mighty impressive, and of course it's all completely unnecessary, except for atmosphere. The only details that concern us are the missing girl's mysterious codes and the last pictures ever taken of her, which show her staring balefully at an unseen individual. Blomkvist's investigative powers rival those of Zapruder film enthusiasts; he's able to tease information out of blurry backgrounds and sometimes seemingly thin air.

Superbly acted by the two leads and intricate in its detailing of characters, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was a wonderful thriller that will captivate, enthrall and repulse you (sometimes all at once), in its various reveals and developments and is worth seeking out in those areas of the country that are lucky enough to have it screened.

3 Stars

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2010)

Running Time: 2 hours 34 minutes.

Starring: Lena Endre, Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace

Director: Niels Arden Oplev

Sweedish with English Subtitles