Matt Price

Illustrator

    What’s expected of a solid motion picture based on an already best selling trilogy? I find that reading over the crisp pages of a good book sets the bar pretty high when the motion picture industry decides to put it on the big screen. Graphic as the book was, I found the film expressed the same harsh qualities, all the while, making a tasteful R rated film (Don’t take the kids to this one, folks).

    42-year-old Mikael Blomkvist, a tabloid journalist in the prime of his life, is asked to solve the 4 decades old mystery of a teenage girl’s murder.  Henrik Vanger, wealthy CEO of his family’s company, calls Blomkvist for an eye to eye meeting. Vanger lives on a secluded island with all members of his family, although they do not live in the same house, nor do they talk to each other, which adds an odd suspense to the plot. Vanger meets Blomkvist with a personal request. Blomkvist is promised a hefty financial reward for solving the mystery of Vanger’s niece Harriet’s death. Vanger suspects she was murdered by a family member but has no evidence, not even a body which vanished without a trace.

    While the puzzle pieces start to come together in his investigation, Blomkvist hires an eccentric 24-year-old Lisbeth Salander, surveillance agent at “Milton Security” and private investigator extraordinaire as his assistant. However, Salander comes with plenty of emotional baggage and a burning desire for revenge against her boss, Nils Bjurman, who has demanded more of her than the job description suggests.  Bjurman’s requests.

    Back on the island, Salander and Blomkvist work to solve this mystery with their different investigative methods.  The sexual tension and the eerie suspense build to a tingling finale.     

    From the time I read the first sentence to viewing the last scene of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, I remained intrigued.