Daniel Craig's 2011 Crime Thriller Based On A Beloved Book Is A Must-Stream On Netflix

If you liked Daniel Craig as James Bond, you'll love him as a disgraced be-cardiganed journalist solving a decades-old cold case. Back in 2011, the British star took a break from Her Majesty's Secret Service to investigate the disappearance of a young girl in snowy Stockholm. Today, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" stands as one of Craig's best movies, which is why you should immediately go and stream it on Netflix.

Cast your mind back to the late 2000s/early 2010s, and you'll surely recall Steig Larsson novels being part of the cultural wallpaper of the era. His "Millenium" trilogy (2005's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," 2006's "The Girl Who Played with Fire," and 2007's "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest") were the buzzy books of the time, and Hollywood took notice.

But before the Americans could put their spin on Larsson's crime thrillers, his native Sweden gave it a go. In 2009, Danish filmmaker Niels Arden Oplev directed a film adaptation of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" starring Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace. It earned widespread praise, with Roger Ebert even awarding the adaptation a perfect four stars. Soon after, Sony Pictures tapped the star of its James Bond movies to lead what was essentially an American remake of Oplev's film, overseen by the great David Fincher. Thankfully, unlike when Matt Reeves remade another Swedish triumph, "Let the Right One In," this time, it actually worked out.

Today, he's known as 007 and Benoit Blanc. But in 2011, Daniel Craig was yet to make his debut as the famed private detective. He was also coming off what many consider to be his worst outing as James Bond. 2008's "Quantum of Solace" was a disaster, but only because it led directly to 2012's "Skyfall." Regardless, audiences didn't respond positively, and Craig clearly wanted to branch out. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" was part of that effort. Sadly, so was the sci-fi flop "Cowboys & Aliens."

Unlike that terrible alternate history movie, however, "Dragon Tattoo" was good. Craig played Mikael Blomkvist, a disgraced but highly capable journalist who's hired by wealthy Swedish businessman Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer) to solve the 40-year-old disappearance of his niece, Harriet. Vanger assumes Harriet was murdered, but he's continued to receive pressed flowers every year on his birthday. Suspecting the killer is playing a twisted mind game, he sends Blomkvist out to get to the bottom of Harriet's disappearance. Craig's journo soon teams up with Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), a hacker and investigator who's endured a lifetime of abuse, causing her to develop a toughness that serves her well as she and her equally obsessive new partner uncover secrets much darker than they expected.

Naturally, David Fincher's sensibility was a perfect match for the source material, and the director proved once again why he's one of the best when it comes to crime thrillers. Meanwhile, Craig reminded audiences he was more than Bond (and certainty more than "Cowboys & Aliens"), delivering a solid performance as a dogged journalist who, like his version of England's greatest spy, has to endure a gnarly torture scene at the hands of the film's antagonist.

We never did get David Fincher's planned "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" trilogy, which is a shame considering his adaptation of the inaugural "Millenium" trilogy novel was so well-received. Both versions of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" will ink your brain, but it's impressive that Fincher was able to match and even outdo the Swedish film in many ways. As Nigel Andrews of the Financial Times put it in his review, "We know what will happen, and it's still riveting."

It wasn't just Andrews who was impressed, either. Today, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" maintains an 86% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 255 reviews. In a review for the AV Club, Scott Tobias praised the "interplay between [Daniel] Craig and [Rooney] Mara," in addition to commending Fincher for displaying "his usual mastery at explicating the finer points of an investigation." Roger Ebert, meanwhile, docked the film half a star, writing that while Fincher's version was "subtly different" from its Swedish predecessor, Craig looked "too comfortable in danger." Still, a 3.5 out of four ain't too bad.

If that's not enough to convince you, Fincher's thriller adaptation was also a commercial success, grossing $233 million at the box office on a $90 million budget. With all that in mind, if you're yet to see "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," why not stream it on Netflix? And when you've done that, the Swedish version is also available on Prime Video if you want to see whether you agree with Ebert or not.