DVDs in Review

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Niels Arden Oplev)

Title: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Niels Arden Oplev, 2009)

Release date: July 19 2010

Certificate: 18

Format: DVD, Blu-ray

DVD RRP: £17.99

Rating: 4/5

Reviewed by Dave Lancaster

‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ is a crime mystery that has the same sort of eerie pacing and ambiguity of horror thrillers such as ‘Don’t Look Now’ and ‘The Orphanage’. It never feels procedural, even when it gets by on logic generating the leads the characters follow rather than cheap thrills and scares. It unravels towards a darker core. The film’s ominous tone is its saving grace, glossing over its minor flaws and two-and-a-half-hour run time to make for a highly recommended film.

The film is an adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s bestseller (and first in the ‘Millennium Trilogy’) that follows two flawed heroes; neither of which are detectives. One - Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) -  is a shamed journalist, notorious for uncovering conspiracies even if he does invade privacy and draw attention to himself in the process.

The other is the girl of the title (brilliantly portrayed by Noomi Rapace) – a computer hacker on parole with a history of sexual abuse that has enabled her to build up a vicious defence mechanism against men. She is introduced showing no mercy to her current abusers in life, making for a fascinatingly violent antihero. Refreshingly, she’s stronger than he is, turning the tables on the ‘damsel in distress’ scenario for the film’s thrilling final act.

As the film opens, Blomkvist has been convicted of libel against a major corporation, meaning that he’s got a few months left before he’s sent to jail with his reputation in tatters. He’s promptly contacted by Henrik Vanger who wants him to use his dogged skills of detection to resolve a 40-year-old murder of a woman who used to work for him (and who also happened to babysit the young Blomkvist). This set-up owes a lot to Raymond Chandler’s ‘The Big Sleep’ – nothing to be sniffed at.

Blomkvist will be paid handsomely and he might as well accept as Vanger observes that “he’s got nothing to lose”. Possibly for the money, the connection to his childhood or perhaps even just to take his mind off imminent jail, he begins his investigation, digging up clues and hitting walls.

All appears hopeless until the tattooed girl contacts him with a clue and they join forces, uncovering a sordid family history within the Vangers clan, allowing them to join forces to create an unlikely partnership both driven by separate motives and methods of investigation. In essence, we’re being given two detectives for the price of one but with neither being demoted to the lesser ‘partner’ role.

Ultimately, ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ is a great thriller with an involving climax, helped along by its brooding cinematography and labyrinthine plot. It takes its time reaching its conclusion, but allows the characters to develop a bond that isn’t (nor should be) immediate. More importantly, it’s excellently cast. Hopefully the second and third in the series will be just as good.