FILM | Review

Dragon

Gay Paris

Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her beloved uncle is convinced it was murder and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) and the tattooed and troubled but resourceful computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) to investigate.

When the pair link Harriet’s disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from almost forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history. But the Vanger’s are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves.

I was right there with writer Stieg Larsson, who suddenly died in 2004, and director Niels Arden Oplev, until the very end of this beautifully shot film, where our female lead, Lisbeth Salandar (Noomi Rapace) makes a completely useless turn, in a tale that needed no further twisting, unless, of course, Oplev plans to be around to shoot an unnecessary sequel.

3 0f 5 stars