The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

	Also Known As: Verblendung (Germany), Män som hatar kvinnor (original)
	Year of first release: 2009
	Director: Niels Arden Oplev
	Actors: Michael Nyqvist (Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol), Noomi Rapace (Prometheus)
	Country: D, DK, N, S
	Genre: Polar, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 10/12.12.2012, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Awaiting for a stay in prison, the editor of a political newspaper (Nyquist) is hired by the head of a powerful family to investigate the dissapearance of his niece 40 years before. An outcast young female hacker follows his tracks.
Review: I know several people who have seen the three Swedish movies that compose this adaptation of the acclaimed Stieg Larsson novels, and even though they have different tastes and sensibilities, they all told me they were very good. Each of the three movies is composed of two parts of one and a half hour, and the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the first movie. What I liked most about this movie is its slow pace, and that you don't really know where it is going. Actually when it started to be more clear, I started to loose interest. But until then, it is an intense investigation movie, very well played and in which you recognize the usual qualities of the Nordic cinema. The very first scene (camera following an outcast character walking in an urban area) immediately reminded me of Pusher by Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive). What could be seen as a weakness is that the movie sometimes looks like a TV-film (which it was at first), but when it does it actually reminds me of the Rigel TV-series by Lars Von Trier (a.k.a. Kingdom Hospital, later remade by Stephen King), which is not a poor reference. The investigation around an apparently innocent girl in a rural little town reminds of Twin Peaks, and to a lesser extent to the Giallo/Thriller What have you done to Solange? I didn't give it a higher ranking because of the ending, slightly dissapointing to me compared to the rest of the movie. I am looking forward to watching the following movies nonetheless!
Rating: 7 /10