This is a fantastic adaptation of Stieg Larsson's best selling murder mystery novel which I noticed so many women reading last year. The story follows Mikael, a journalist convicted of slander who, during the time he is waiting to serve his sentence, is hired by a man to solve the 40 year old case of his missing niece, Harriet Vanger. With the help of a young, damaged computer hacker, Lisbeth, superbly acted by Noomi Rapace, Mikael investigates the entire rich and powerful Vanger family, whom Harriet's uncle considers each a suspect.
From the starting credits to the final scene, this movie had me feeling a little tense the whole way through. Mikael and Lisbeth are unstoppable against the push back they receive from the elders of the Vanger family, some of whom are ex-Nazis. As they begin to measure the danger involved in the investigation, they get too close to back down.
This movie felt a little like a classic cat and mouse mystery, but a bit more brutal... think a John Grisham version of Silence of the Lambs. The mood was extremely dark, the temp was cold, and the emotion, well, after watching the anxious, depressed Lisbeth chain smoke her way through the film, I felt I needed a little psychotherapy or at least stiff drink to bring me back to normal.
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