Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Swedes do it again with ‘Girl With Dragon Tattoo’

NOOMI RAPACE and Michael Nyquist in “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.”

Those Swedes sure know how to make a good film.
Those Americans know how to remake good Swedish films.
Remember “Let the Right One In?”
Now we have “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” or the original title “Män som hatar kvinnor.”
It has since been Americanized and was recently released to theaters. I haven’t seen that version, but the original 2009 Swedish version can be seen right now at Netflix streaming or on Amazon Instant Video. (If you are at work, turn your monitor so your boss can’t see what you are doing.)
This has almost a film noir atmosphere, with more than one mystery that needs cleared up.
Mikeal Blomkvist, played by Michael Nyquist, is a celebrated journalist for Millennium magazine. He loses a libel case brought by a shady industrialist, Hans-Erik Wennerstrom.
The magazine must pay damages, but unlike in America, there is an apparent criminal penalty as well. Blomkvist must serve a short prison term.
But that’s a few months off. In the meantime, he is approached by an aide to frail but wealthy Henrik Vanger. The Vanger family lives in a bunch of homes on a remote island connected by a bridge.
Blomkvist visits the 80-something man who tells about a 40-year mystery involving his niece, Harriet. She disappeared at age 16 on a day that an accident closed the one bridge leaving the island.
There has been no trace of her since. There is a good possibility a family member murdered her.
Wennerstrom, knowing he has little time left, wants Blomkvist to investigate the situation.
Why the old man hires a journalist rather than a detective we’ll never know. But the libel trial made big TV news and it looks like solving this case could redeem Blomkvist.
Meanwhile, there is this punkish, waifish girl, played by Noomi Rapace, whose own life is a mystery. Her life is sordid, just in the fact she must submit to a parole officer on a regular basis.
But her old parole officer had a stroke and her knew one is hardly a nice guy. He has control of her money and if she wants some, she must submit to his sexual advances.
Well, until early on when she turns the tables on the guy.
She is an enigma. She’s a subdued computer hacker. As the film progresses, we learn more about her background.
Meanwhile, she hacks Blomkvist’s computer, offering a clue to his investigation.
Soon they are working together in this misty, engrossing and suspenseful story.
One person who saw the film suggested the ending was similar to “Silence of the Lambs” and I agree, to a point.
Like many Swedish films, it is difficult to pigeonhole just what kind of movie it is. Like I said, it does have some film noir and could have easily had its genesis in a 1940s crime drama.
And unlike the new American version, you can watch it right now through streaming. It is long, but the movie never drags.

GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO • Directed by Niels Arden Oplev • Written by Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg • In Swedish with subtitles • Runtime: 152 minutes • Rated R for violence, sex • 3 1/2 stars out of 4