This "Dragon" is Never Draggin'

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

***1/2 out of ****

Directed by: Niels Arden Oplev

Starring: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Sven-Bertil Taube, Peter Haber and Lena Endre

Running time: 148 minutes

Fervent readers across the world – those who have outgrown tales featuring hormonal wizards and Abercrombie & Fitch models posing as werewolves – have been firing through the “Millennium Trilogy,” from Swedish author/journalist Stieg Larsson.

Larsson’s trilogy was finished but unpublished when he suddenly died in November 2004. Since then, his books (released posthumously) have sold over 30 million copies worldwide. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is the first installment in the trilogy.

And even though an American remake of the bestseller is in the works – likely to be helmed from Fight Club director David Fincher – it would be unwise for anyone, bookworm or not, to miss this gripping adaptation. Even one that’s entirely in Swedish.

That girl with the dragon tattoo scaling her back has a name, and it’s Lisbeth Salander (she's portrayed by Noomi Rapace).

She wears coarse, black clothing, is covered with piercings, swears profusely, and earns a living as an undercover investigator, craftily obtaining private documents and hacking her way through hard drives. She’s a compelling hybrid of shock rocker Marilyn Manson and the snooty (and fictional) Chloe O’Brian, from Fox’s hit series 24.

Her last name may be Salander, but in Dragon Tattoo, she delves into the life of an alleged slanderer, a disgraced journalist named Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist).

Blomkvist, a publisher for a thriving financial magazine, has been sentenced to a six-month prison term for losing a libel case against a powerful Swedish industrialist. After being defamed for his actions, he hastily agrees to assist an aging billionaire, Henrik Vanger (Sven-Bertil Taube).

Forty years prior, Vanger's niece, Harriet, disappeared from the island that houses the lofty family estate and was never seen again.

Haunted by the cold case, Vanger believes that his niece was killed and that her perpetrator is still out there. He wants Blomkvist to crack the unsolved mystery by bringing a fresh, journalistic perspective to the investigation.

Before long, our new detective gets a major break in the case, courtesy of someone who’s keeping close tabs on Blomkvist: a young woman with a dragon tattoo. Together, Blomkvist and Salander form an unlikely detective duo to get to the root of the decades-old mystery.

Blomkvist and Salander are an unlikely combination, but Nyquist and Rapace, respectively, give their coupling a scalding hot chemistry amidst a chilly, barren atmosphere.

Both characters are lost and vulnerable. Salander has been depraved by a sadistic guardian (warning: there are some graphic scenes of rape and mutilation here). Also, Blomkvist can’t walk very far without being reminded of his journalistic collapse.

Nyquist and Rapace offer these beloved literary characters a sardonically bitter edge in the first third. But, as we uncover more about these lonely souls and get caught up with their shattered lives, we begin to buy their inevitable romantic pairing.

Major props go to Rapace, who looks the ferocious part while offering glimmers of tenderness underneath. Good luck to the casting director of the upcoming US remake for finding someone of equal worth.

Furthermore, there aren’t many times when an adaptation – especially one for such a sprawling, intricate novel like "Dragon Tattoo" – can remain in-sync with the characters without missing the elemental aspects of Larsson's dense plotting.

The film is taut, and never feels the need to swerve into the subplots involving secondary characters that were wisely left on the page.

Director Niels Arden Oplev ensures both excellent pacing and breathless suspense. When one can be so engrossed with the mystery at hand that they no longer feel as if they’re reading the subtitles but breathing in the intricate details of the story, it's fair to say that this is a worthy tribute to Larsson's page turner

Even so, it’s odd that the novel’s potent MacGuffin is absent. In the novel, Blomkvist agrees to investigate for Vanger in exchange for information that would prove that the man who initially sued him for libel is indeed corrupt. Blomkvist’s immediate involvement with Vanger in the film version - without the exchange - is hard to buy, as a result.

Regardless, this is intelligent, riveting entertainment. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo brings out the vivid characters, unsettling portrayals of violence and malice (that are key to the story at hand), and the encapsulating whodunit that has already left millions of readers licking their lips for more.

It’s as if the zeniths of Larsson’s opus had been tattooed onto the reels of the film. Take note, Hollywood: this is how a beloved novel's adaptation is done right.