(Roadshow)

The Swedish original hits DVD

As a title, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo sounds so much more exotic and dangerous than the late Stieg Larsson’s rather frightening and offensive original Men Who Hate Women. Larsson’s partner, Eva Gabrielsson – herself engaged in a long-running battle with her partner’s family – is still smarting over the translation, and those encountering investigative journalist, Michael Blomqvist (Michael Nyqvist) for the first time might be tempted to agree with me when I argue the original translation more accurately describes this nasty, disturbing story about a series of violent murders in Sweden.

The film opens as Blomqvist reels from the after-effects of a defamation case, which will see him head off to gaol in a matter of months. Turning his back on the magazine he helped to build, the journalist heads off into the wilds of Sweden to research the decades-old case of a missing woman. As he unravels the disappearance of Harriet (Ewa Froling), a series of clues surface courtesy of the titular computer whiz, Lisbeth (Noomi Rapace).

I’m assured by fans of the print version of Larsson’s work that the film is a fairly faithful adaptation, which has me a little nervous about the written descriptions of violent rape and murder throughout the film. The minutiae and tedium of Blomqvist’s daily routine don’t quite cross over to the screen, despite the lengthy screen-time, and Nyqvist (As It Is In Heaven) and Rapace are excellent in their roles as the crime-fighting duo. Unnerving as this film was, I find myself looking forward to seeing Lisbeth play with fire and hornets’ nests.

****

TIM MILFULL

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