<a href="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/?attachment_id=292" rel="attachment wp-att-292"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-292" title="Girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo" src="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="225" /></a>I read the Stieg Larsson trilogy about a year ago and after a bit of a struggle to get past the sheer number of family members that are part of the main plot, I really enjoyed the books.

It's always a challenge for film scriptwriters to interpret a well read and popular book into an equally good film and I think this has been achieved here.

It was good to see the film with Jane because she hasn't read the book and easily followed the complex plot to the very end. It's a film with an excellent combination of character development, plot exposition and dramatic action. Jane asked me at the beginning why it <img class="alignright" src="data:image/jpeg;base64,[encoded data, 8576 characters]" alt="" name="3cPHYogoEIeDDM:" width="60" height="59" data-sz="f" />was rated 18  and it wasn't too long before the degrading rape scene was tastefully, if brutally acted out. Without this scene the character of Lisbeth Salander would not have been fully understood and was fundamental to not only this story but the subsequent stories yet to be translated, hopefully, into film.

So, it isn't a film for the feint hearted or the easily offended. When Lisbeth appears from her bedroom, having spent the night with another girl, wearing a T shirt emblazoned with "Fuck you, you fucking fuckers" you know this is a harsh environment and not for the squeamish.

Jane and I enjoyed the film very much and are looking forward to the next one which won't be until next year but it will give Jane time to read the trilogy. Highly recommended *****