Based on Stieg Larsson’s international bestseller, this film makes this the second time this story has been brought to the screen. The original Swedish version is very fresh in my mind, having made my top 25 list last year, ranking fourth, just behind David Fincher’s THE SOCIAL NETWORK. Now we have Fincher’s version of the same tale in English.

Still set in Sweden, Daniel Craig (CASINO ROYALE) plays journalist Mikael Blomkvist, who has just lost a libel suit after printing a damning report about a successful businessman. Turns out he was set up. Leaving his magazine in disgrace, Mikael takes a job offer from Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer, BEGINNERS), a retired businessman whose family operates one of the largest companies in the country. For decades, Henrik has been investigating the disappearance of his niece Harriet, who he raised like his own. The old man believes one of his family members murdered her.

As Mikael begins his investigation, we meet Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara, THE SOCIAL NETWORK), a skilled computer hacker who conducted the background check on Mikael for Henrik. She is pierced and tattooed and never wears anything that isn’t black. A goth girl with a history of violence, she is a ward of the state and has been assigned a new case worker named Bjurman (Yorick van Wageningen, THE NEW WORLD), a sadistic man who blackmails sex out of Lisbeth. But he doesn’t know who he is dealing with.

Mara, a relative newcomer, was a surprise choice for the coveted role. She gives the character the right dose of vulnerability and chutzpa. For those who have seen Noomi Rapace’s performance it’s hard to not see the influence (whether intended or not) in Mara’s performance. Mara is given a more open version of the character. When Mikael takes an interest in her, she starts to drop her cool demeanor. The tough outside and quick temper is just a shield for her fractured heart. She’s just looking for a friend and an equal, which for her is difficult to come by.

Like the original film version, the story takes its time to set up its two investigators. When their stories merge, it’s like a dream team we’ve been waiting for. Henrik’s family is large so the suspect list is long. Martin (Stellan Skarsgard, GOOD WILL HUNTING) is Harriet’s brother and now runs the family company. He is the only one who supports Henrik’s investigation. Frode (Steven Berkoff, CLOCKWORK ORANGE) is Henrik’s right hand man and his protector. A protector from Henrik himself he says. Anita Vanger (Joely Richardson, ANONYMOUS) is Henrik’s niece who got away from the family the first chance she got. Cecilia (Geraldine James, SHERLOCK HOLMES) is another niece who doesn’t like the coverage of the family. Harald (Per Myrberg) is Henrik’s reclusive brother, who only leaves the house to go hunting.

Surprisingly the script from Steve Zaillian (SCHINDLER’S LIST) is not as subtle as Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg’s Swedish script. In the American version, the moral rabbit hole surrounding the conclusion is eliminated with Mikael simply siding with Lisbeth’s blood lust. I find this a very curious cultural distinction. Having not read the book I can’t say which script kept the most faithful, but what I can say is that the Swedish version handled the end coda with better economy and left Lisbeth more enigmatic.

The Swedish version made Lisbeth just as much of a mystery as the murder mystery. The American version makes her an avenging angel. Driven by a badass performance from Mara, the character remains very compelling still. Part of the joy of both versions is the contrast in investigating styles between Mikael and Lisbeth. It’s the perfect pairing of old school and new. Take from it what you will that Mikael plays by the rules and Lisbeth enjoys breaking every single one.

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For a continuing franchise it’s so often the quality of the villain that makes the series longevity. The hero never changes, or we think that is the case. It’s a good villain that pushes the protagonist to the edge. This is the case with the introduction of Professor James Moriarty into Guy Ritchie’s steam punk version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s great detective.

Moriarty was only hinted at in the original, but here he is played with intelligent ruthlessness by Jared Harris (TV’s MAD MEN). Holmes (Robert Downey Jr., IRON MAN) has linked the university professor to a series of bombings that have been attributed to an anarchist group. His longtime beau Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams, THE NOTEBOOK) is still working for the man who has no qualms murdering to meet his goals. But what are his goals? Holmes boldly confronts him, which makes the dastardly schemer attack Holmes where it matters.

Dr. John Watson (Jude Law, A.I.) has just gotten married to Mary (Kelly Reilly, PRIDE & PREJUDICE). On the train to their holiday, they are attacked, but Holmes is there to save the day and ruin their honeymoon. In an effort to thwart Moriarty’s plans, the duo team up once again to get to the bottom of the bombings. They receive help from Holmes’ politically connected brother Mycroft (Stephen Fry, V FOR VENDETTA), who is half elitist and half nudist. A recovered letter will lead them to gypsy fortuneteller Madam Simza Heron (Noomi Rapace, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO), who is good in a fight.

The scenes between Holmes and Moriarty are golden. Their battle of wits is fun like watching two expert duelers. Michele and Kieran Mulroney’s script creates a memorable conclusion where Holmes and Moriarty are playing chess while “Holmes” is still in another room trying to stop a political assassination. While the idea of them playing chess seems obvious, the sequence has multiple layers and brings together all the conventions of the characters and this particular franchise.

Moriarty makes this film better than the first. But that’s why I wanted more of him. While Holmes is always on his trail, he doesn’t seem omnipresent. This is mostly due to long stretches were he is absent and Holmes and Watson are in search of Heron’s brother, who of course will have a role to play in the larger plot. Moreover, the slightly bloated film seems bogged down a bit with slow-motion fight scenes where Holmes thinks things out ahead of time and other slow-motion action scenes where we watch bullets explode trees so that we can watch every splinter fall. And let’s not even get into the stuff that would be better suited in a sci-fi film than a detective actioner set in 1895.

Nonetheless, Downey Jr. is a joy to watch as the flippant detective. The repartee between he and Law’s Watson is downright lovable. These partners in fighting crime are set out against a grand manipulator who can match wits with Holmes. But what makes him more dangerous is that he knows how to get at Holmes. He’s like the Green Goblin dangling Mary Jane over the edge of the bridge. Holmes is presented with lose-lose choices. But he’s always prepared.

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What if upon your mother’s death you learned that your father was still alive and that you had a brother you never knew about? Then you were asked to find them. Through the process you learn shocking details of your mother’s past. What if the woman that always seemed a little weird was actually a legend in her native country?

Jeanne (Melissa Desormeaux-Poulin, TAKING THE PLUNGE) and Simon Marwan (Maxim Gaudette, CHEECH) are faced with these questions when their mother Nawal (Lubna Azabal, PARADISE NOW) passes away suddenly. He doesn’t want anything to do with his mother’s surprising last request, but Jeanne knows that she will be haunted by it if she doesn’t go looking for her father. As details, she will pull her brother into the search, simply because it is too emotional to do it on her own.

Nawal grew up in a fictional Middle East country that is not far of from Lebanon. She was a Christian and made the mistake of falling in love with a Muslim. The rest of the details of her journey that led to her to move with her twin children to Canada I will leave  secret. What she experiences through war will test her faith and beliefs. She will endure torture and rape to the extents her children couldn’t imagine. But she comes through it with a surprising perspective.

Some of the revelations might be seen as lurid, but they actually work profoundly in support of the grander theme. Director Denis Villeneuve shows the cycle of violence that radicalizes generation have generation in the war torn parts of the Middle East. In setting the action in a fictional place the story envelopes the entire region in the message. Violence breeds violence. But it’s hatred for those different than you and your family that really starts it all. Any action can be justified if it’s being conducted by your side.

Azabal gives a heart wrenching performance as a woman who sings to free herself from her hardships. Through everything, her will is strong, partly fueled by a quiet rage. Only late in life does she find unexpected closure and ultimately forgiveness. A chance encounter makes her rethink how we are connected to all humans even our enemies. Her character might be dead from the start, but this is her story.

Desormeaux-Poulin and Gaudette are given witness roles. But their journey to discover their mother’s past and fulfill her final wish adds mystery and tension to the story. The more they learn the more we wonder if it is safe to continue. Villeneuve does a brilliant job letting the audience in on a bit of information before the characters to make us fearful for them, but keeps back the big bombshells so we witness the explosions with the characters. In the end, it makes us wonder how much do we really know our parents? What secrets do they plan to take to their graves? Who in the world knows these secrets and how different is their view of your parent from yours?

The Canadian film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The darker material must have been a turn off compared to the easier humanistic message of winner IN A BETTER WORLD. That film is a more conventional Hollywood drama while this film has more in common with a Korean shocker. Though it was nominated last year, it didn’t get a U.S. release until this year. So now it gets to be a 2010 Oscar nominee and one of the very best films of 2011.

At the core of the story, the film argues that anyone, due to their circumstances, can be driven to hate and violence. At some point someone has to break the cycle. Many people who hate have mothers that love them.

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You don’t need a star cast or a huge vfx budget to make a quirky Sherlock Holmes-inspired tale. Just watch Aaron Katz’s indie mystery comedy and you’ll know why. His film starts out like a meditative indie about finding one’s self, but transforms into a detective tale that is as funny as it is suspenseful.

Doug (Cris Lankenau, QUIET CITY) is the Sherlock Holmes wanna-be in this tale. He has been studying forensics and has decided to go back home to take a break for a while. He moves in with his sister Gail (Trieste Kelly Dunn, UNITED 93), who, as he observes, doesn’t have any friends. He gets a job at an ice factory where he meets the aspiring DJ, Carlos (Raul Castillo, TADPOLES). Doug spends his days reading and taking in the sights of Portland. When he goes to have coffee with his ex, Rachel (Robyn Rikoon), who is in town on business, he doesn’t seem too interested in getting back together with her one way or the other. He just seems fine just floating along doing what he wants.

Then one night Carlos drops by late in a panic. Rachel has gone missing. Or has she? Has Carlos been reading too much Arthur Conan Doyle? Is Doug really finding clues or is it a case of his active imagination running amuck? Maybe he should get a pipe to help him concentrate?

Katz quietly sets up his characters. I found the sibling relationship particularly engaging. They’re both in a rut in their lives, but only Doug is doing something about it. Some might say he’s doing the wrong thing, but who are we to judge? The mystery spices up their lives. It gives Doug something to care about and Rachel starts to feel the residual effects of that.

Doug is sensible and logical, but there is a moment when he enters detective mode. He quickly goes from being blasé about everything to focused. He really does well thinking on his feet. Carlos and Gail become his Dr. Watsons, helping him investigate. They’re the perfect yin and yang for Doug. Carlos gets him excited, while Gail brings him down to Earth. Only a sister could tell this would-be Holmes to hand over his knife and let her drive so he doesn’t get hurt.

The comedic timing is really snappy. Katz knows how to use editing and pacing to make us laugh at what could be standard detective devices. The whole quietly paced beginning and gorgeous cinematography works as the set up for the jokes. Mystery, adventure and intrigue can break out anywhere, even in a thoughtful indie flick.

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Every neighborhood has their own hermitic legend. As a kid we had Pappy Kratzer. Kids told tales of him firing shotguns off to scare away anyone who got too close to his house. He’d sit on his porch and ridicule kids as they went by about how things were different in his day. But I never knew Mr. Kratzer. Not even his first name. I wish I would have. I’m sure he had a story to tell.

The same can be said of the protagonist in Aaron Schneider’s nostalgic drama. Felix Bush (Robert Duvall, THE ROAD) sports a long straggly gray beard and tattered clothes. He lives in a small cabin in the woods, where kids dare each other to pass the sign warning people not to come onto his land. He rarely comes into town and when he does it becomes all the chatter. The rumors say he killed a man once.

Now Felix is having heart problems and knows that he is coming to the end of his days. So he comes up with an idea. He wants to throw his funeral while he’s still alive. Funeral parlor owner Frank Quinn (Bill Murray, LOST IN TRANSLATION) is eager to take hermit money, while his assistant Buddy (Lucas Black, SLINGBLADE) is uncomfortable with the whole circus that eventually surrounds the event. Felix wants to hear what people have to say about the crazy old nutter before he goes. But he also wants to tell his story.

Now that he’s come out of isolation, he begins to reconnect with old friends. Mattie Darrow (Sissy Spacek, IN THE BEDROOM) was once his lover. She describes him as being the most interesting man she ever met, not because of his odd look, but because of the mysterious depth that seemed to lie behind his eyes. But his secrets run deep and a photograph of a woman that he holds dear, holds secrets for the both of them. Moreover, the black preacher Rev. Charlie Jackson (Bill Cobbs, THE HUDSUCKER PROXY) knows the true nature of the strange man.

First-time feature director Schneider was a cinematographer before his 2003’s short film TWO SOLDIERS won him an Oscar for Best Live-Action Short Film. His time as DP certainly shines through in this gorgeous looking film. He captures a rustic charm for his 1930s Tennessee set story. The production design is spot on to the period, reminding me in many ways of O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? in look.

With a cast with the names Duvall, Murray and Spacek, one can expect excellence and the film delivers. Duvall gives an understated performance as a man who isn’t as crazy as everyone thinks. He is a soulful man who has purposely put himself into exile over past sins he cannot forgive himself for. Murray brings the film wry humor as he sits in the background wondering how the woman he has feelings for could ever desire Felix Bush. That woman, Spacek’s Maddie, too has a well of emotion and guilt that plagues her soul. Her reunion with Felix brings back fond memories and painful scars.

While the overall story fells well worn at times, the pieces here make it resonate. Felix Bush was a man who loved and lost like us all. The small town he came from doesn’t look past the exterior and he wants it that way. He has to find the courage to tell his own story in his own words. Otherwise it will be lost to folk legend, just like Pappy Kratzer.

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THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO is one of the absolute best films of the year. Its sequel is not nearly as good, but that’s only because part of the joy of the first film was meeting the characters. The pull of the second installment is what do these characters do next. And just how badass can Lisbeth Salander get?

The film takes place a year after the events of the first film. Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace), the gothed out superior hacker with the photographic memory, returns to Sweden after living aboard, giving time for the criminal heat that she’s involved in to cool off. Her ally, journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), has been trying to contact her to make sure she is safe. He knows Lisbeth Salander, so one wonders why he worries. She has a few reunions upon returning. She hooks up with her longtime lover Miriam Wu (Yasmine Garbi) and visits her court-appointed guardian Nils Bjurman (Peter Andersson), a sadistic man who Lisbeth has the upper hand on.

Blomkvist is working with young journalist Dag Svensson (Hans Christian Thulin) on a sex trafficking piece that will implicate high-ranking government officials. When Dag turns up dead, his murder and two additional killings are pinned on Lisbeth. In some way the gangster Zala (Georgi Staykov, FATHER OF MY CHILDREN), the bleach blonde thug Ronald Niedermann (Micke Spreitz), the secret police and Bjurman are all involved. On the public side, Blomkvist investigates to clear Lisbeth’s name, while she does her own covert pursuit of who might want to set her up. All roads lead back to Lisbeth’s violent past.

Lisbeth Salander is a character for the ages. She’s an introverted heroine who doesn’t like to depend on anyone. Her past is a secret she shares with no one. While we discovered some elements of her childhood in the first film, this new film delves into more details. The title refers to an incident we learned about in the DRGAON TATTOO, but has a dual meaning. She is highly skilled for sure, but has she messed with the wrong people this time?

Blomkvist is less involved in this tale, serving as a sort of guardian angel for Lisbeth. He’s trying his best to keep the police diverted, while trying to come by the truth as well. He starts back up with his longtime married lover and colleague Erika Berger (Lena Endre, FAITHLESS), but she senses that Lisbeth has a pull on her man. Part of that pull is that he feels he owes his life to her, but Lisbeth doesn’t want to get him wrapped up in her problems. There is a great moment when Blomkvist finds out where she has been staying that impresses on Lisbeth how determined he is… and how skilled of an investigator he is too.

While the first film had its grand murder mystery, the feel was more like a thriller from the 1970s where rich characters pieced together details to lead them to the killer. FIRE is grander with larger than life villains that could have easily been in a James Bond film. But in the end whether it’s serial killers or Bond baddies, Lisbeth Salander is going to kick ass whether it ends up with her in jail or getting killed. Because that’s the way she plays.

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This film reminds me so much of FROZEN RIVER, the great indie thriller from 2008. Both films follow poor women wrapped up in illegal activities. The wooded settings in winter add to the desperate tone of the narrative. Both follow resilient women and both were directed by women. And most importantly they’re one of the best films of their respective years.

All the characters in this tale seem vaguely related. But family is invoked when you need something from someone and that doesn’t guarantee anything. One character won’t even go and talk to her grandfather because she’s scared of him. Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence,  TV’s THE BILL ENGVALL SHOW) though takes family deadly serious. She’s 17 and has had to drop out of high school so she can care for her mentally broken mother and two younger siblings. They live off the land eating squirrels and chopping wood from their timber land in the Ozarks. Her father is a meth dealer who just takes off for stretches of time. But now he’s been arrested and he’s put up his property for his bond. Sheriff Baskin (Garrett Dillahunt, TV’s THE 4400) comes by the house saying their dad is nowhere to be found and if he doesn’t make his court date they’ll lose it all.

Ree goes looking for her father, but she hits roadblocks everywhere she turns. Her uncle Teardrop (John Hawkes, ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW) is an ex-con with a rep that makes the most hardened criminal quiver. When Ree first comes to visit him, he forcefully tells her that a man jumping bond to avoid jail is that man’s business and no one else’s. Everywhere she turns she only gets lies. When she goes to talk to the grandfather mentioned earlier she doesn’t even make it past the door. Merab (Dale Dickey, CHANGELING), an intimating woman who might make Aileen Wuornos shutter, makes it very clear that she should not be poking her nose in other people’s business. These are people suspicious of their own shadows because they keep following them around.

Ree becomes like a shadow. It’s dangerous to try these people, but she has nothing left to lose. Lawrence is remarkable as Ree, a resourceful, confident and pig headed young woman. Her younger brother and sister are virtually parentless and she is determined to raise them up strong. She expects decency from others even if decency was the first thing those people abandoned when they got wrapped up in the drug trade. In this business, they’re not just the president but also the client and they consume as much as they sell.

Director Debra Granik (DOWN TO THE BONE) co-wrote the script with Anne Rosellini based on Daniel Woodrell’s novel. What the film does so well is to tell a story about hicks from the Ozarks without making it a film about “hicks from the Ozarks.” These are not caricatures. They are raw, real people. Granik is helped enormously by the subtle acting of the cast. Lawrence plays Ree as a world weary warrior who is driven to make the world seem as normal as possible to her little brother and sister. Hawkes and Dickey play their violent characters as people who have lived with violence everyday of their lives. It’s a way of life in their part of the woods. And through the violence and hate both find a way to bring out the humanity in the characters as well.

Ree’s quest to find her father turns from a mystery to a thriller to a human drama. The loss of the house to the Dollys is more than the loss of a home or possession, but the loss of their humanity. As Ree describes it, they’ll be forced to live in a field like dogs. We feel that as an audience. But when it’s obvious that it’s crucial to others that her father stay missing, can she make anyone else feel it?

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To get a sense of this actioner take an awesome Bond girl, say like Tatiana, have her train with Jason Bourne and let her loose against the CIA. And one of the main reasons it all works is that you have Angelina Jolie at the helm. She really is the first female action star.

To start Evelyn Salt (Jolie) has been taken prisoner by the North Korean government. When a prisoner swap is arranged, she asks her partner Ted Winter (Liev Schreiber, TAKING WOODSTOCK) why the CIA didn’t just write her off — his answer is that her boyfriend Mike Krause (August Diehl, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS) wouldn’t let them. Now free and married, Salt is looking to take a desk job. But a Russian spy named Orlov (Daniel Olbrychski, BREAK POINT) walks into CIA HQ and wants to defect. He has an elaborate tale of Russian agents planted in the U.S. since they were children and that one is about to assassinate the Russian president on U.S. soil. He says the agent’s name is Evelyn Salt.

Counter intelligence agent Peabody (Chiwetel Ejiofor, 2012) instantly suspects her and has her put in an interrogation room. She worries about her husband’s safety since her cover was blown in North Korea. When she goes on the run, we’re not sure if it’s because she wants to find her spouse, or if she is really a Russian spy, or if it’s C) all of the above.

The film often works as a successful shell game, keeping us focusing on elements we can figure out while hiding other secrets right under our noses. Kurt Wimmer’s script is a greatly paced puzzle and director Phillip Noyce knows how to shoot and time these kinds of films like he did in DEAD CALM and the first two Jack Ryan films. There is one misstep in a shocking twist toward the middle. It works extremely well emotionally for the moment it happens, but dilutes the emotional pull of the film over time.

Some of the action is preposterous, but no more so than in many James Bond films. As we know from the damn MYTHBUSTERS, most of anything that takes place in these kinds of movies is preposterous. But like the Bourne series and latest Bond films the action falls within the bound of reasons of suspension of disbelief. Salt is the kind of character who thinks on her feet and she’s really smart and skilled. She never does anything that seems completely out of character for a super spy, which is key. I don’t care if it couldn’t happen in real life, but this film has one of the best uses of a taser ever.

The best part is that the film gives us a reason to care. In a few quick strokes, we feel that Evelyn and Mike would do anything for each other. It’s the driving force of everything that happens. It also helps to keep us guessing about Salt’s motives.

To be honest I wasn’t expecting much going into this one, but it put a smile on my face from the start. It’s serendipity that real-life, long-term Russian spies were captured on U.S. soil right before this film came out. In some ways it makes the film’s giant Russian conspiracy seem far less dated. Nonetheless, Noyce has fun with the throwback spy tale — at one point there’s a great wink wink to the audience in a costume change. Jolie is the sexiest spy around and a bona fide action badass. Anna “Agent 90-60-90″ Chapman needs to watch out, because in my mind she was pretending to be a spy while Evelyn Salt is the real deal.

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Based on the international bestseller from Stieg Larsson, this murder mystery thriller from Sweden does something that few murder mystery thrillers ever do — center its story on its main characters. We are compelled to find out the solution to the crime, (more so the why rather than the who), but we are even more compelled with the investigators and how the case affects them. Again the why is the most important part.

Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist, DOWNLOADING NANCY) is a disgraced journalist, who has just been convicted on libeling a powerful businessman. Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) is a gothic hacker who has been hired by the powerful businessman Henrik Vanger (Sven-Bertil Taube, THE EAGLE HAS LANDED) to look into whether Mikael is really guilty or not. It seems Mikael has been set up, but is too beaten down by the power structure to fight against the set-up. While Mikael waits the six months before this jail sentence begins, Henrik wants to pay him to look into the 40 year old disappearance of his beloved niece Harriet. She disappeared after a family party and Henrik is convinced that one of his family members is the killer.

With a large family with a dark past — Henrik’s brothers were all members of Hitler’s Youth — the list of suspects are numerous. Mikael combs over boxes and boxes of evidence that Henrik has collected over the years. Each year, Henrik receives a framed flower drawing, just like he received from Harriet. He’s sure that the murderer is taunting him. It turns out that Henrik virtually adopted the girl for her father Gottfried, who was a drunk, and her mother Isabella (Gunnel Lindblom, WILD STRAWBERRIES), a cold and bitter woman. Gottfried and Isabella’s son Martin (Peter Haber) is now the president of the family’s business. Henrik’s only surviving brother Harald (Gosta Bredefeldt) is a recluse who only leaves his house to go hunting. Henrik’s niece Cecilia (Marika Lagercrantz, ALL THINGS FAIR) shows up from abroad when she hears of Mikael’s investigation.

Mikael is a real journalist — one who sees his job as keeping tabs on the powerful, not serving as their propaganda machine. But with his conviction, he seems to have lost faith in the power of journalists who speak truth to power. The other side is just too powerful. Taking a job for one of the biggest corporate tycoons is just another example of how far he believes he has fallen. And yet, as the constant professional, he becomes completely dedicated to the mystery. As he sees how invested Henrik is, he becomes even more emotionally attached.

With a photographic memory, Lisbeth is the best hacker around. Her look is intimidating with multiple piercings on her face, large studded collar and a giant dragon tattoo on her back that eventually emerges out her thigh. Her appearance mirrors the pain of her troubled past. The government has assigned her a guardian to look over her finances and her new guardian Nils Bjurman (Peter Anderrson, PUSHER) sees his position of power as something to exploit. But Lisbeth is no push over — in fact she’s as badass as they get.

The idea of the rich and powerful using their privilege to exploit those under them is a theme that runs throughout the story. Both Mikael and Lisbeth want to expose that corruption, but their approaches are completely different. Mikael still holds onto the idea of justice, while Lisbeth’s more painful experiences lead her toward revenge. How they connect is unique and fascinating. Mikael is captivated with this strange, but brilliant young woman. She brings hope back into his life. For Lisbeth, Mikael seems like the only honest man left in the world.

At times the film works as a procedural and then a nail-biting thriller, but the glue is Mikael and Lisbeth. With two hours and 32 minutes, director Niels Arden Oplev has time to show us these characters and what they are capable of. (It also allows time for us to get our bearings on the vast genealogy of the Vanger clan.) Lisbeth never shares her past with Mikael, but the film finds ways to show it to us nonetheless. Her story is just as much a mystery as what happened to Harriet. And even more compelling.

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Coming from Guy Ritchie, the director of LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS, it’s not surprising that this Sherlock Holmes is a more physical chap. But what is surprising is how it is handled. While this film has a contemporary vibe, it stays true to the spirit of the famed character. He is a detective and a skeptic and those qualities drive him and this film.

To start Holmes (Robert Downey Jr., IRON MAN) and his partner Dr. John Watson (Jude Law, A.I.) are on a desperate chase to stop Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong, STARDUST) from committing another ritual murder. Blackwood is caught and sentenced to hang. On the night of his execution he warns Holmes that he will be back to kill again. Soon ritual murders begin again and Blackwood’s tomb is broken out of from the inside. As London descends into a panic over the supernatural, Holmes is determined to discover the Earthly truth behind the mystery.

Giving him his first lead is Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams, THE NOTEBOOK), a thief and his former lover. She has a new mysterious employer and she points him in the direction of the ginger midget, Reordan (Oran Gurel). Ginger midget is the film’s description not mine. This 1891-set story is not up on current Little People terms. Back to the plot, Holmes’ investigation leads to the secret society called Temple of the Four Orders, which makes the Masons look the high school band.

Downey of course makes Holmes a vastly entertaining character. The great detective is a bit pompous and very focused. His impetuous behavior makes the audience hold their breath, because we’re not sure if he’s going to solve the mystery or get himself into deeper trouble. Law’s Watson serves as Holmes’ conscience. He is also trying to put his adventuring days behind him, because he is set to marry Mary Morstan (Kelly Reilly, PRIDE & PREJUDICE). But something always pulls the surgeon and war vet back into danger. The repartee between the two longtime colleagues gives the duo an unspoken past, which makes the partnership richer. McAdams is there to be pretty and an X factor. Because her motives are a mystery, her presence keeps us guessing.

While there are some big action set pieces, the film attempts to keep the fight choreography somewhat grounded. This Holmes is a trained boxer, but he isn’t a scrapper, but a fighter who works like a chess player, planning out several moves ahead toward his checkmate move. Ritchie handles these sequences with a fun style while never making it in your face. This HOLMES has more in common with INDIANA JONES than MURDER, SHE WROTE. Part of what makes this Holmes more epic than previous versions is the fantastic art direction. Art director Sarah Greenwood and set decorator Katie Spencer received an Oscar nod for their effort, which gives the film an authentic late 19th century feel and yet conveys a modern cool at the same time.

Rousing fun is the best way to describe this production. The end gets a bit talkie, but there are a lot of elaborate plots to explain. Traditional Holmes fans might not like this adrenaline-drunk rendition, but I found it a respectful way to make a 21st century Holmes film.

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