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4 stars****

If you are one of the 65 million who have read Steig Larsson’s trilogy, there is a very good chance you will have already seen the first book’s movie, in Swedish, either dubbed into English or with English subtitles. You were probably worried about Hollywood getting its hands on the stories for fear of total ruination. You need not fear, they did quite a good job.

So what’s it all about?

Disgraced journalist Mikael Blomqvist is hired by Henrik Vanger to investigate the disappearance of Vanger’s great-niece Harriet. Henrik suspects that someone in his family, the powerful Vanger clan, murdered Harriet over forty years ago. Starting his investigation, Mikael realizes that Harriet’s disappearance is not a single event, but rather linked to series of gruesome murders in the past. He now crosses paths with Lisbeth Salander, a young computer hacker, an asocial punk and most importantly, a young woman driven by her vindictiveness. Together they form an unlikely couple as they dive deeper into the violent past of the secretive Vanger family.

Daniel Craig is a good Mikael Blomkvist, better than he is a James Bond with the two roles being miles apart. Rooney Mara is a good Lisbeth Salander, but she’s a long way short of Noomi Rapace’s version. Noomi was close to the book’s heroine, but Ms Mara’s Lisbeth character has been toned down somewhat. You’ll almost wonder why the movie has an R rating, compared to the Swedish adaptation. Salander is just so much more frightening in the Swedish account.
To pull a book from 500 pages and turn it into a movie at just over 2 ½ hours is difficult. The screenplay writer has a tough call on what to leave out. If you’ve read the book you will notice that Lisbeth’s security company hardly gets a mention and the mixing of the girl in London with the girl in Australia saves time and money.

The wonderful (now deceased) book author Steig Larsson has said in an interview that he viewed Salander’s character as an adult version of Pippi Longstocking. Larsson obviously has more imagination than most who have read Astrid Lindgren’s wonderful tales.

The alternative poster drove up the hype that this movie would be explosive, but it skimmed along that level. For those expecting plenty of violence, it is more implied than seen. For those expecting a sexy movie, this initial teaser poster has more sex in it than the movie suggests. You will probably have seen more in a thirteen rated movie recently. It’s only the scenes they talk about in the movie that move this to an R rated arena.

As a standalone movie, this Dragon film does well. It’s difficult to fault and builds the level of suspense you would require to be a worried audience member, but if you read the book first then you would already have a movie in your mind. If you have seen the Swedish version after reading the book, this movie will leave you wanting more, much more.

The story delves more into violent forms in books 2 and 3. You will look forward to seeing how the director and actors cope with the level of blood and gore on screen. There are sure to be two more movies to complete the trilogy, unless the 4th book is completed; then more delights will follow, but who will win the rush to promote the movie first?

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