The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

That novel, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", gets a Swedish cinematic outing, and doesn't it do well. The story is not very original (haven't we seen 'Jar City', 'The Crimson Rivers', etc.?), but it holds the attention while the film's main strength develops. For, like all the best detective stories, it's its characters (particularly the eponymous girl) that really win the audience over. Blomkvist and Salander are a winningly odd couple and though the film takes its time to bring them together, they are all the richer in our minds by the time they do. Their contrasting reactions to a death near the end very neatly incapsulate the extremes of society's attitude to criminals, and made me question myself (I don't come off well). A step above the usual.
By the way, I know Hollywood gets the scent of money and want a remake, but they really should just stay away; they can't do this sort of thing.