In stripping back the Dragon Tattoo story to its bare bones and keeping our attention purely on its central players, David Fincher has created a sleek, sparse and visually arresting adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s opening gambit. Despite being hampered rather than helped by the narrative of their source material, the immensely creative team do an admirable job – underpinned by a stunning performance by star Rooney Mara. The question is – is this story really good enough for them?

Stieg Larsson’s bestselling Millennium trilogy is inching closer to the big screen, with Sony in talks to develop American film versions of the three books, and the first of the Swedish versions due out early next year.