The written word has always been a rich source for movies, since studios and producers hope that a book's loyal audience will follow their love of that book into the movie theater. It is not always an easy translation, for the true reality is that it is difficult for the cinematic experience to compete with a person's vivid imagination developed from reading a fascinating book. There are just too many ways to get it wrong. While a movie can occasionally improve upon a mediocre book, the reverse is much more often the case where a great book has been rendered into a mediocre movie, or worse. 

I am delighted to say that this movie proves to be the rare and stunning exception. This Swedish pairing of the arts is a thrilling moment where the cinematic adaptation is just as ambitious and overwhelming as the book upon which it was based. I could not be happier, as one of the best books that I have read during the past 10 years has been turned into one of the best movies that I have seen during the past 10 years. Saying this, I will have to admit that I cannot speak for those who have not read the first two of the three books by Stieg Larsson which are called his Millennium Trilogy. I have devoured both books, and I love them with a reader's passion. 

Those of you who have not read the first book upon which this movie is based will be at a slight disadvantage with its complex story line, a dense, multilayered plot, old family rivalries, crimes committed decades earlier, and the time necessarily taken to read the English subtitles. In addition, there will be a few scenes which will be jarring in their brutality for those who have not first read the book and are up to speed with those relationships. All this being said, this is an extraordinary movie with not a weak moment in its entire two and a half hour running time.

"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" is the first book of what is called "The Millennium Trilogy," a series of books by Swedish author Stieg Larsson. They are all huge international literary sensations. Sadly, there won't be any more novels coming from this author, as he died from an unexpected heart attack in 2004 at the all too young age of 50. All three of his books are being made into Swedish movies, and this is the first of the three to hit our shores. 

The story is so complex as to be almost impossible to condense into a few words, but at its most basic it is about Michael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), a crusading journalist for Millennium Magazine, who has just lost a libel case because he inadvertently printed false information about a rich industrialist. A delayed jail sentence has allowed him a few months to settle his affairs, when out of the blue he is hired by Henrik Vanger (Sven-Bertil Taube), a reclusive industrialist, to search for clues to the disappearance of his beloved niece some 40 years earlier. Childless and widowed himself and near the end of his life at 82 years of age, Henrik Vanger desperately seeks closure to this very cold case. More troubling is the fact that he suspects another member of his highly dysfunctional family of being guilty in her disappearance and presumed death.

Unbeknownst to Michael, he has been hired for this job because Vanger's lawyer used Milton Security, which then hired Lizbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) to investigate him. Lizbeth is a withdrawn, antisocial, bisexual young woman who sports nose rings, tattoos and the black Gothic mode of dress. Nonetheless, she is a genius at investigations, especially when it involves computer hacking. She reports to her agency and Vanger's lawyer that Michael is clean and that he appears to have been set up. 

The agency that hired her doesn't know that Lizbeth has hacked into Michael's personal computer, so she is able to follow his investigation into the Vanger family. Lizbeth quickly becomes involved in his investigation since it revolves around her passion and her hatred in life, which is for men who hate and abuse women. That is the literal title of this film as well as being the original title for the book. 

Lizbeth Salander is the out front, outsized, brooding character of the story with previously unknown actress Noomi Rapace providing an exceptional performance of a young woman with a world of hurt in her background. Michael Blomkvist is more or less her minor partner as a levelheaded, well grounded every man, and Michael Nyqvist serves this role perfectly. (Rated A+. Demand that your theater get this movie! Drive any distance to see this movie! This film is outstanding, incredible, and not to be missed! Simply the best movie in years, period.)