We’re usually skeptical about Hollywood remakes. However, the hotly anticipated Hollywood version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an interesting exception. Adapted from the first part of late Swedish novelist Stieg Larsson’s best-selling Millennium trilogy, David Fincher’s latest thriller has a narrative that almost strictly copies that of the previous film adaptation. But with Oscar-winning screenwriter Steven Zaillian (Schindler’s List) making intelligent plot changes, cameraman Jeff Cronenweth (The Social Network) creating an effectively chilling atmosphere and leading lady Rooney Mara’s star-making central performance, Dragon Tattoo puts itself one notch above its Swedish twin.

You know a film can’t possibly suck when it has beautifully stylized, music video-like opening credits accompanied by Karen O’s cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song.” Briskly walking into the picture is Lisbeth Salander (Mara), our 24-year-old bisexual-goth heroine, heavily pierced and tatted up. A professional computer hacker with unparalleled research skills, Lisbeth is also the victim of violent, sexual abuse—a dark past that makes her the sociopathic avenger she is today. On the other hand, recently discredited investigative journalist and editor of Millennium magazine, Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig), is recruited by aged industrial tycoon Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer), the woeful CEO of the Vanger Corporation, to help him in his final attempt to find out the truth about the disappearance of his 16-year-old great-niece Harriet some 40 years ago. Henrik believes that his beloved Harriet was murdered by someone in the family—a nasty clan of abusers, rapists, incest fiends and Nazis that he despises.

Hired by a corporation to do a background check on Blomkvist, Lisbeth hacks into his laptop and is instantly drawn to the disappearance. Together, they delve into the case and start to dig up decades-old dirt and bones that are far more disturbing than they ever anticipated.

Fincher chose to stay in the book’s original setting—a slightly awkward decision that requires the largely British/American cast to speak English with a Swedish accent. Mara, who played Mark Zuckerberg’s ex-girlfriend in Fincher’s The Social Network, is almost unrecognizable and utterly mesmerizing here. Despite her having the body of 13-year-old boy, she has an unexplainable sexual appeal to both men and women. With great courage and commitment, she’s done wonders for a part that promises her future stardom. And while Mara owns enough screen time, it’s pleasing to see that Craig also gets a lot of the spotlight, creating a balance between the two characters—something that the Salander-dominated Swedish film version lacks.

One of the best screenwriters today—responsible for Schindler’s List, Gangs of New York and this year’s acclaimed Moneyball—Zaillian has turned in another excellent script that smolders with a brooding, creepy intensity. And if any writer is capable of altering the plot of an internationally bestselling novel for the better, it’s got to be him. The cinematography is exquisitely handsome and gloomy, with a helplessly bleak aesthetic. Fresh off of winning an Oscar for their collaboration on the score of The Social Network, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross join forces again to create industrial-metal music that fits the thriller perfectly.

Clocking in at 158 minutes, Dragon Tattoo hardly has a dull minute and keeps an exhilaratingly fast pace. For those who have read the books or seen the previous screen adaptation (or both), there’s nothing very revelatory or mind-blowing here in the retelling of the story, but thanks to the fantastic cast and crew, Dragon Tattoo is a sophisticated production that will have you looking forward to the follow-ups.