Wow. I don't know how to describe the level of awesome this movie was. As much as I hate doing it, I created such high expectations for myself with this movie. Thankfully, I was nowhere near disappointed. The amount of satisfaction I felt as the movie progressed far exceeded anything I could ever have imagined.
The opening credits gave me a boner that didn't go down until the final scene. The last little bit of the movie bothered me in smallest way possible and would be the only problem I had with the whole thing. The story is tweaked enough from the original that it felt fresh, but what really shines is David Fincher's visual take on the material. The original film's look and feel was inspired by Fincher's own Se7en and everything I imagined the matured Fincher could have possibly done with it was blown out of the water. It is sad he won't get any sort of recognition for such a phenomenal piece of work.
From the beginning I was a little skeptical of Rooney Mara being chosen as Lisbeth Salander, but from the second she walked on screen with that mohawk, I was completely fine with it. And as the film progressed, I fell in love with her.
Oscar or not (most likely not

), this is one of the best female performances I've seen. She, like Fincher, took what the original created and developed her own minor additions to the character to create a sense of freshness.
I've heard many comments that the ending was excessive and drawn out, but in my opinion, I loved the movie so much, I wished it would have kept going for 2 and a half more hours; I couldn't get enough.
Usually for me, I hate knowing what is going to happen when I watch something. This movie still drew me in and I felt so invested in the investigation these two were a part of even though I knew how it was going to all play out. That is a fantastic sign and I cannot wait to see it again.