**WARNING - May contain a spoiler or two**

It’s not that Niels Arden Oplev isn’t a capable filmmaker, it’s just that David Fincher is better. This film is better than the Swedish original. Fincher can, and has, collaborated with better people and the result is a film that is far more interesting than the very good crime thriller that Oplev oversaw.

In the hands of Fincher, Zaillian, Reznor & Ross and this cast, it truly is pulp crime elevated to a near Kubrickian status. I say that because there is clearly so much homage in this film to The Shining. There are nods to Barry Lyndon and Eyes Wide Shut also, but The Shining is referenced most prominently, to the extent that certain shots are clear homages. And it fits. The idea of the secrets of a place and its inhabitants. The sense of isolation from the rest of the world, emotionally as much as physically is ever present and oppressive.

This is such a beautiful looking film, delivered far more matter of fact than the Swedish version, which allows the evil to sit there, staring back, underscored by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s sublime score.

And where did all the laughs come from? Zaillian’s words and the superb performances of Plummer and Craig allow some real gallows pulp moments that are genuinely funny.

At the heart of it is Rooney Mara, deservedly Oscar nominated for a fearless performance. Admittedly, Noomi Rapace deserved more award recognition for her portrayal. Both get to the heart of a truly memorable character. Unfortunately, and this was the only real flaw for me, Mara has to spend the final moments looking yearningly at Craig, and then fleeing into the night, giving the central relationship a Hollywood romance fleck that this brilliant story of primal, physical dependent friendship doesn’t need or deserve. It’s as if even in a film as dark and uncompromising as this the girl still needs to want to a girlfriend above all else. That sucks.

It’s a small detraction from a fantastic piece of work. Amazing credit sequence which almost mocks Daniel Craig’s Bond associations and features Karen O delivering a prophetic version of Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song. Some sequences are pure comic strip, whilst the rest is a masterclass in camera led meaning and feeling. The fact that Fincher knows this is pulp, and plays with those conventions is what stop it reaching Shining/Kubrick levels of wonder, but that feels deliberate, it’s more stylistically playful whilst still forcing us to witness uncomfortable darkness through the lives of brutal men, a terrifying family and a brave, valiant, intelligent, unique woman.