FOR the second time in as many years, Scandinavian cinema comes up trumps with a stylish and invigorating thriller guaranteed to have audiences on the edge of their seats.

Part one of a trilogy by Stieg Larsson, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is a gripping and suspenseful yarn full of intrigue and deception that pulls no punches with the graphic violence meted out to the morally flawed characters.

Yet these scenes are never gratuitous and every bone- crunching punch is vital to the serpentine narrative that holds our interest for the entire 152 minutes.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is an exquisitely paced piece of genre filmmaking, distinguished by the sharpness of Niels Arden Oplev's direction, Nicolaj Arcell and Rasmus Heisterberg's script and fearless performances from the two leads, Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace.