All the Führer's men

Män Som Hatar Kvinnor (The girl with the dragon tattoo)

Crit

Reading A. O. Scott in the Times this morning (Brutal Truths About Violence) almost turned me away from this, but in the end, I needed a dose of movie-theater popcorn w/ Kernel Season's Parmesan-garlic topping, and if that meant gratuitous and possibly misogynistic, even pornographic violence, well, sometimes popcorn comes with a price.

Well, all due respect, A. O. is one sick fuck if he finds anything remotely titillating in the rape sequence; the events and the aftermath are repellent, disgusting, and downright grotesque, and the revenge sequence is about 70% practical calculation and no more than 30% gratuitous revenge, which is a fair breakdown, given the provocation.

That aside, it is a terrific action/suspense film with one of the most complicated and fascinating female characters I have seen in a long time. In the late going, the film gets too talky, telling us stuff we ought to be able to figure out for ourselves (and it also veers a little too close to an episode of Dexter), but not until the final reel do you start to realize that, indeed, this sucker is 2½ hours long.

I'm in for the sequels that seem certain to follow (the literary basis being part of a series), assuming Noomi Rapace will be back. By the way, the Swedish title, which apparently we squeamish Americans were thought incapable of handling, translates "men who hate women."

Trailers

• The Kids Are All Right--Yes. Just yes. Yes.
• Please Give--I'll follow Nicole Holofcener anywhere, and I'm starting to feel the same way about Rebecca Hall.