Niels Arden Oplev (director)
(studio)
18 (certificate)
154 (length)
12 March 2010 (released)
01 March 2010
It’s a film that’s based on the first book of the famous Trilogy by Steige Larsson. For all those who have been living under a rock he is Swedish and that is where the action takes place. This is a dramatic thriller with tension tighter than a fleas sphincter (if they have one). The male hero is Mikael Blomkvist and ace investigative reporter for The Millenium magazine. When he is framed to produce an inaccurate story putting the magazine in financial trouble and disrepute he takes a leave of absence. During this time off, the enigmatic fatherly Henrick Vangar of the Vangar group (rich large company) enlists his help to solve a forty year old murder. The unfortunate victim is that of his niece” Harriet Vangar” who apparently disappeared from the family estate, which is situated on an Island, forty years ago. The interesting thing we find out is that on the day of the disappearance nobody was allowed across the only bridge access to the Island. You might think that this would make a forty year old murder hunt easier to solve, but the problem is there are 30 suspects in The Vangar family who could have committed the crime. Some we find are alive, but unhelpful and some are dead and equally unhelpful….(have I caught your attention yet!).
As Blomkvist delves in to the forty years of family secrets he gets more and more troubled by what he finds. (All families have skeletons in the closet you just need to know where to look).
To help Mikael find and navigate the trail through time and place along comes the introverted psychiatrically challenged Lisbeth Salandar who I’m sure will create an army of real life anti establishment computer hacker copycats. However as they say “there can be only one” and she is original, brilliant, inventive, vindictive and totally merciless (It’s really hot to watch, trust me). What an inspired use of a Tazer and a rather large dildo!!!
Q.- A What...!!!!!????
A.- You'll see!!
Lisbeth guides Mikael at times by the hand through the twists and turns of the intricate and captivating story which is equally brilliant. After just twenty minutes I was totally engrossed and the film being in Swedish with subtitles didn’t affect my enjoyment at all. (Rather like Crouching tiger hidden Dragon). At times it made me feel like I was sliding down a mountain only to hit a tree, ricochet off and then start sliding down again (fast).
This movie satisfies all tastes with no theme left untouched. Bestiality and incest even get a mention, but unless you’re a freak there is a rape scene that was a little uncomfortable to watch, especially for the girl sat next to me.
After over two hours (which seem s like one) you’ll feel like you have licked rather than simply touched the raw underbelly of human nature and just when you think you can’t take any more, having spent all of your adrenalin and without a frayed nerve left, the film takes you on one last loop the loop to make sure you’ll come back for the sequel ( which we all will).
In Summary an amazing who done it with captivating believable acting to match a powerful story that munches through “Silence of the Lambs” for suspense and that will have you guessing more than “The Usual Suspects. Who cares who the hell “Kiser Soze” is the phrase on everyone’s lips this year is…….
"Who killed Harriet?"
Rating 10/10 a must see……….
