The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is a Scandinavian murder mystery that involves solving a case as cold as a Stockholm January. Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) is a journalist on the losing end of a libel suit due to disappearing sources that could verify embarrassing exposes he’s published about a powerful big wig. Before he’s sent to the slammer for three months he gets some good news in that a rich industrialist wants him to investigate the disappearance of a favourite niece who vanished decades before. He’s selected for the high paying job after being vetted by Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) a young but expert computer hacker sporting several piercings and, under a lot of studs and leather, a massive amount of ink in the shape of a dragon. She also has a lot of residual anger issues that still require legal supervision and her rage is only fuelled by sado masochistic episodes with her repugnant new state sponsor. A la CSI, Mikael’s use of new technology with old evidence gets him close to the real story but it’s not until Lisbeth e-mail’s him an important clue that he realizes that the case involves a serial killer and that he’s being cyber-watched. Eventually the paths of Mikael and Lisbeth intersect and they work in tandem to not only solve the case which involves Nazis and veiled incest but also to get a full appreciation of her body art. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is the most successful Swedish film ever made but at 152 minutes it’s extensive. But wait, there’s more! This is just the first in the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson.