Ace reporter Mikael Blomkvist (Nyqvist) has just lost a libel case when mysterious magnate Henrik Vanger pops up with a lucrative offer to solve the disappearance of his sixteen-year old great-niece some 40 years ago. Vanger is convinced that one of his own sinister family members is responsible and Blomquist is quickly spirited to the dynasty’s remote island where most of the suspects are conveniently situated.
Our hero is aided and abetted by the young gothlet (Rapace) of the title, a whizz-kid hacker with a troubled past. Together, they crack contrived codes, stare at old photographs and get it on as they close in on the awful truth.
Stieg Larsson’s mega-selling book hits our screens with a thud and English subtitles. Niels Arden Oplev’s Swedish adaptation is competently shot and adeptly performed – but like many contemporary thrillers, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo strives determinedly after “the worst thing you can think of”. By the final reel the unlikely crime-sleuthing duo have happened on Nazis, incest, torture, rape, murder, religious sects and unlicensed body art. You half expect the Spanish Inquisition.
The film’s insistence on shock value is tempered by a glossy cop show aesthetic; there’s something unsettling about the sordid rape scene’s resemblance to a Marilyn Manson video, and disturbing about the degradations visited upon the film’s heroine. For all of her countercultural blandishments, she’s essentially an old-school damsel in distress.
Still, the film manages impressively to incorporate a corrupted ruling elite, bible study, the Holocaust and a rape-revenge cycle with a slavishly faithful adaptation that’s sure to keep the 25 million owners of the book onside. No wonder Hollywood is circling with notions of a remake.