The mystery opens on journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) being found guilty in a libel suit against Swedish industrial magnate Hans-Erik Wennerström. After the verdict - and to his surprise - Mikael is courted by wealthy patriarch Henrik Vanger (Sven-Bertil Taube) to investigate the disappearance of a teenage girl. The girl was Vanger's niece, Harriet, and she's been missing for over forty years. Disgraced and jobless Mikael takes on the case, which has him relocate to the small island where the disappearance occurred. Tracing his movements is Lisbeth (Noomi Rapace), the investigator who was assigned to do a background check on Mikael on behalf of the Vanger family. Lisbeth is a polarizing character; her standoffish behavior and Goth-inspired attire make her invisible to those who dare look in her general direction. Twenty-four and underdeveloped in areas that men like to ogle, Lisbeth is a basket case of emotions. Working alone on the case, Mikael is good. But when Lisbeth offers assistance, the case takes a dramatic turn. Per his urging, the two work together, weeding through old photographs and documents. Untrusting of others, Lisbeth finds herself growing to trust Mikael, but soon that trust is put to the test as they inch closer to a possible serial murderer.
Watching the film at this year's South by Southwest Film Festival, only to read the novel afterward, the writing team of Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg has to be commended for condensing Larsson's 590-page work (if going by the U.S. softcover release) into an investigative mystery masterwork. A labyrinth maze of names, faces, and theories, Dragon Tattoo's narrative bobs and weaves all over the Swedish landscape. Commanded by director Niels Arden Oplev, the film is a weighty procedural, and he measures each scene so as to let the viewer survey the situation along with Mikael and Lisbeth.
