Män som hatar kvinnor / The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

Verdict:  9/10

The movie has some nudity & violence.

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" directed by Niels Arden Oplev, is adopted from the 1st book of the hugely popular "Millennium Trilogy" series written by Stieg Larsson. Spare a thought for Larsson because he died before any of the trilogy books were published. The movie is the biggest ever Scandinavian movie & the highest grossing movie of Europe in 2009. There are 2 more sequels to this film which have been already released in Sweden & will be released in U.S in the coming months. I didn't read the novel but as the movie is gradually unfolding, you can actually feel like reading the book. The literal translation of the swedish title is Men who hate Women.

Henrik Vanger (Sven-Bertil Taube) is a retired former head of a business empire as well as the head of a big dynasty. 40 years ago his niece Harriet has disappeared & her body was never found. Henrik, for whom Harriet is like a daughter, is convinced that she is murdered by some one from his own family & he employs a tainted journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) to find the murderer. Mikael gets an unlikely partner in the form of the antisocial computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) who is fighting some demons from her own past. They form an unlikely detective pair & together they must find the murderer before they themselves became the target.

For a movie to be a good crime thriller, in my opinion, you need good screenplay & editing along with great story & performances. Decent music doesn't hurt either. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a perfect package of all the above.

The plot is not as simple as I've mentioned above. There are many layers to the story. Characters in the movie are not some simple paper caricatures but are filled with real meat & flesh. Michael Nyquist as the disgraced journalist has done a very good job. All the supporting cast are good.

But the performance of the movie goes to the girl with the dragon tattoo Noomi Rapace. Hers was the toughest job. She played the role of a young woman who has been abused since childhood by society & most of the people that she knows. So she develops a kind of apathy towards the society. Even when she finally finds a man whom she loves, her troubled past means she can't trust him. Also she is afraid to take the next step & can't express her love. Lisbeth Salander is one of the more complex characters that you will see this year. In an interview Rapace said that she knows Lisbeth in & out. It shows in her performance. After the movie I googled Noomi Rapace & I was astonished with the difference between the real Rapace & reel Lisbeth. If I give you the pictures of Rapace & Lisbeth, you would think they are completely different persons. A double thumbs-up for Rapace. Of late, I've heard that some idiots are remaking this. Whoever takes her role has really huge shoes to fill in.

Nikolaj Arcel & Rasmus Heisterberg have done a good job in adopting the screenplay to the big screen. Anne Østerud has done an exceptional job with the editing. With appropriate background score & good cinematography the movie was very well made.

Niels Arden Oplev has handled the 150 min movie very well without letting loose the grip anywhere. Of course the screenplay definitely helped him.

I was dangling whether to give this 8 or 9 but since I'm not witnessing the release of many good crime mysteries these days & I love strong feminine characters, I went with a 9. Without a doubt, this will be one of the best crime mysteries that you will see this year.

Love to hear your views,