The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

Neatly told story, with just enough brutality and intensity to get you into it without turning you off.

Nyqvist’s performance was good, and Rapace is a strangely magnetic presence. Her determination, concentrated gaze, and boyish physicality reminded me of Franka Potente in Run Lola Run.

This version will never be successful in America because:

1. It is in Swedish.
2. It is too long.
3. Blomkvist’s infidelity, a bold story choice for the hero, is a non-issue.
4. There are no big stars.
5. There is no one exceptionally good-looking in the movie. An American audience would never root for toad-faced, Larry Flynt-looking Michael Nyqvist as the hero. Anyone who looks like that in an American movie would admit ugliness, be self-conscious, and compensate with comedy.
6. It’s good.