Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Rating: ***1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 85%

So, let me give you the warnings first. 1) The film is in Swedish and subtitled; 2) It's long --more than two and a half hours long; 3) There are scenes of sexual violence that are all too real -- some images may haunt you.

Now, if I haven't scared you away, go see this film. Noomi Repace, who plays Lisbeth, the female lead, owns the film. If you've read the novel on which the movie is based, it's difficult to imagine anyone else playing this complex, mercurial character. She's a powerful young woman, but early in the film, we watch as she is trapped in a web of sexual harassment by a man on whom she is totally dependent for her livelihood. The man's behavior is horribly mundane, but Lisbeth's ultimate response is not. She's a survivor who seizes her power and uses it to move her life relentlessly forward.

On top of all this, there's a mystery to solve. Lisabeth and Mikael, a journalist, delve into the question of what happened to a 16-year-old member of one of Sweden's biggest industrial families forty long years before. Tension builds and the mystery becomes a thriller. It's a stunner.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it