Men Who Hate Women (2009)

Written by: Rasmus Heisterberg and Nicolaj Arcel
Directed by: Nils Arden Oplev

Men Who Hate Women is the first in the bestselling "Milennium" book series by Swedish author Stieg Larsson. This is a well-made thriller directed by Nils Arden Oplev, who formerly directed the Danish TV crime series The Eagle. What lifts this film up above other contemporary Swedish films in the genre is the depth of the characters. Almost every character is original, interesting and peculiar. If this has to do with the massive input form Danish film professionals I don’t know. I just know that Danish films often have good character casts. Sure, in this film the protagonist Mikael Blomqvist could be made into something more than just another cookie-cut Michael Nyqvist character, but it works well enough.

The story also is very well structured. I haven’t read the book, but I am sure the scriptwriters have done an amazingly good job here. Especially the editing of all the still pictures used to find the murderer in the story are well put together and partly resembles the style of the classic JFK.

Since this is just the first of three in a series, the whole picture will come when having seen all three, but as a stand-alone film Men Who Hate Women works well enough.
The camerawork is excellent and the acting is good for being a Swedish film, which otherwise often tend to have "stage" acting. When will we see a Swedish film where the characters speak like normal people? Anyway, this film is above the standards we have been used to in many areas. It’s a clear four-P in this forum.

P P P P