The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Adapting an international bestseller is always fraught with danger. There will be those who hanker for every tiny detail to be kept intact, while others will see a literal blow-by-blow adaptation to be a betrayal of the cinematic art. In a world where it seems to be increasingly difficult to please everyone, literary adaptations run the risk of pleasing no one.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (released in Sweden under the book's original Swedish title, Män som hatar kvinnor - Men Who Hate Women) does pretty well, considering that the odds are stacked against it. It keeps the essence of its source material intact - including Mikael Blomkvist's endless cups of coffee - while also speeding matters up to bring things to a head (just about) within the 150 minute mark. It's still a little long, but for such a sprawling novel it's an admirable achievement.

Its main technique is to thin the opening hundred pages of Stieg Larsson's book down to a few minutes, and anyone who's read the novel will tell you that this is a good thing. The financial espionage subplot almost vanishes entirely, cutting out Larsson's dullest passages in the process. What's left behind is a serial killer thriller of the top order, with barely a copy of the Financial Times in sight.

Michael Nyqvist tackles the lead role with an admirable everyman quality, and while he's hardly the wannabe Lothario of the novel (Larsson's Blomkvist seems to jump into bed with every woman he meets), Mikael Blomkvist 2.0 is an altogether more likable human being. This may be the only documented case of a movie adaptation actually toning down a book's sex appeal.

The true revelation is Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander, however. Anyone who's seen Rapace off screen would never pick her as the pierced, tattooed, pale Gothic heroine of the original, but on screen she's such a perfect fit that you'll never read Larsson's novels in the same way again.

We don't want to give too much of the plot away - despite the fact that millions of you have already read this story around the world - but suffice it to say that Mikael Blomkvist is hired to look into a family mystery, and winds up uncovering more than a few skeletons in more than a few closets. At first he is investigated in turn by the troubled, abused Lisbeth, but their paths eventually cross and they form an unusual but dynamic allegiance.

And yes, Blomkvist does finally get a tumble between the sheets. The screenwriters certainly made him wait for it, though.

The plotting can be a little plodding at times, but The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo does an adequate job of bringing Stieg Larsson's gritty modern detective story to the screen. The real success, however, is in the uncovering of a major talent in Noomi Rapace, and the decision to keep Larsson's story decidedly Swedish in flavor. Following Let The Right One In, it's safe to say that Swedish cinema is undergoing an international renaissance.

It won't come as a huge surprise to hear that Hollywood is already planning an Americanized version of Larsson's books, but with David Fincher, Daniel Craig and An Education's Carey Mulligan attached to the project it might not be the travesty that you'd expect. As a model, though, Män som hatar kvinnor will be tough to beat.

4/5

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - ***

Review:  This is a very hard movie to review.  The movie was brutal at parts and somewhat hard to watch.  I had heard lots of very good things about this movie and the majority of them were absolutely true. 

The movie tells two parallel story lines that eventually intersect to come to the ultimate conclusion.  One storyline involves Lisbeth Salander who works for a security company as a high tech background investigator/hacker, that they call a "researcher."  Lisbeth has come from an interesting background and has quite the interesting appearance.  She has been tapped to lean everything she can about Michael Blomqvist and whether or not his allegations of a large companies CEO are true.

Lisbeth also has a troubled past and is currently on parole.  This means she has to deal with her parole counselor, which isn't a problem until she she gets a call letting her know that she will have to switch counselors.  This leads her to have to be counseled by a complete sleazeball that sexually assaults and rape's her.  This is a very brutal part of the movie and makes it hard to watch.  However, it does show some insight in Lesbeth and how she has an iron will that can overcome anything.  Lisbeth has been through this type of torment before and can deal with it, even if her "dealing with it" is a little messed up. 

The second story centers around the man Lisbeth was charged to get information on Michael Blomqvist. Lisbeth has been investigating Michael for a while now related to his investigation of the aforementioned CEO.  She seemed to see it fit to continue peeking in on Michaels computer after her job is done and finding unrelated information that she can help him out with.  This is one of the parts where the movie kind of slipped away for me.  There is no clear reason why Lisbeth continues to track Michael, other than curiosity, but the person Lisbeth is shown to be does not appear to be the person to care, and her job is done. 

That aside Lisbeth ends up teaming up with Michael as they are charged to trying to solve a 40 year old murder.  This leads down a very windy road with a very detailed story that is well written and well put together.  It is interesting to see the story unfold and there are definitely a couple different twists you don't see coming.  The only thing I will say is that at times the story comes together much too coincidentally and it makes the realism start to fade.  I suppose it's all in the name of a good movie, which this is, but it takes a hit in the rating for something like this that is big for me in movies.

All in all, this was a well constructed and very tense, at times hard to watch, and very well made film that is definitely worth your time.

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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

If you aren’t already a fan of the Millenium series, don’t bother with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo unless you really like the single plot that virtually all contemporary major crime novels follow these days. Here it is...

You must have a detective who is a loner, possibly even an amateur. S/he is possibly depressed, probably an alcoholic. He must team up with an interesting sidekick, who may be a love interest as well. 

The case must be unusual enough to be off the record – ie. not handled by the normal police, with full resources. It may well be a cold case or involve a person who may or may not be missing. This person is usually female and probably attractive and innocent.

It is quickly ascertained that there is a conga line of victims, more enough to make the obligatory photo wall in the serial killer’s lair to look suitably impressive. Noone cares about lone victims.

By why haven’t all these women – it’s always women – been reported missing? Because they are prostitutes, who are the only people noone really cares about enough to notice they are missing. They are all mutilated in some signature way, that allows for a very specific psychological profile to be built about the killers personal history.

The tracking down of the serial killer takes a backseat to two other key serial killer plot components. The detective must be brilliant enough to solve the crime, but too difficult or honest to be taken seriously by the police. This is so they are forced to work alone and then become the next target of the killer, who has been following the proceedings with interest and feels that they are about to be undone.

Finally, if the detective and sidekick are of opposite sexes, they will become lovers.

This is the plot of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It is hardly worth a spoiler alert, because we’ve all been here before. That said, the film is strong, the casting is great and the lead characters very engaging.

There is far too much backstory, which is always the tricky part of the book-to-film transition. Most of it was unnecessary. The eponymous girl’s behaviour and actions made her past intriguing enough without being shown every detail of her problem. The violence of one utterly gratuitous scene required three champagnes to bring me back to normal. It belonged in another film entirely and was so extreme that I didn’t believe it.

Once our girl, expert hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) recovers from her ordeal and teams up with disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyquist), things really get going in a competent paint-by-numbers serial killer tale.   

Miss Amazon

Millénium; Les Hommes qui n'aimaient pas les femmes de Niels Arden Oplev

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Fort du succès  en librairie de son jumeau Les Hommes  qui n'aimaient pas les femmes, Millénium;  le Film n'a pas eu besoin de publicité très élaborée pour  attirer ses lecteurs en salle. Une bande annonce accrocheuse et une  affiche efficace rappelant la couverture sobre du roman ont suffi pour  le Québec.
Étant l'un des lecteurs de Stieg Larsson, le film m'a  paru une suite logique dans mon cheminement dans le monde de Lisbeth et  Mikael. Fait entièrement en Suède et tiré du roman du défunt Larsson, Millénium; Le Film relate l'histoire  d'un journaliste économique, Mikael Blomkvist, qui sort perdant d'un  procès pour diffamation et qui accepte de bosser pour un ancien grand  PDG de l'industrie suédoise afin de découvrir des nouveaux éléments dans  la disparition de sa nièce. De l'autre côté nous voyons l'histoire  d'une jeune femme renfermée et très "Dark" du nom de Lisbeth Salander  mais qui s'avère un génie informatique du "hacking". De fil en aiguille  ils feront affaire ensembles pour découvrir une histoire qui ose relever  plusieurs tabous qui touchent la Suède d'hier et d'aujourd'hui.
L'enquête  est très dynamique et les découvertes nous gardent en haleine tout le  long du récit. Plusieurs scènes sont dures et ne s'adressent pas à un  auditoire fragile et sensible. Cependant, c'est une adaptation sans  compromis commercial et de censure. Le passé National-Socialiste de la  Suède et le viol de femmes est soulevé sans fioritures et mérite d'être  félicité car on réussi à ne pas dédramatiser ces éléments trop souvent  passés rapidement et oubliés. La force du récit de Larsson est de passer  un message sérieux dans un contenu attrayant et divertissant.
Bref,  un film qui fait réfléchir et qui dénonce sans s'enfoncer dans le  mélo-drame.

http://cinephiliaque.blogspot.com/2010/01/millenium-les-hommes-qui-naimaient-pas.html

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Recommendations: Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie, Duel

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (Niels Arden Oplev, 2009)

** ½
Sweden

Slick, meticulously contrived highbrow trash. It has more plot holes than most movies have plot, and more plot than... Well, much more than necessary. And for all its solemnity, it ultimately amounts to nothing of real meaning. The mysteries are convoluted and hollow, the psychologies – thuddingly literal, the forensics – gruesome yet pedestrian, the plot conveniences – abundant, and the grotesque sadism undergone by the protagonists – only outdone by the grotesque sadism that befalls the lecherous, hyper-maniacal villains when they finally get their comeuppance.

If there is any kind of message at all in the end, it’s that a lesbian is only a critically petrified girl afraid to face her true and primal need for the love of a man (specifically, a gentle, noble father figure). Once she confronts this need, she will also finally begin dressing and styling her hair like a decent woman.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

It’s hard to find the right words to describe The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Dark, brooding, gory, brutal, humane, humorous, completely engrossing and ultimately highly entertaining, it’s one of the best movies of the year.

The film’s Swedish title is Män som hatar kvinnor (Men who hate women), and that title says it all. Directed by Niels Arden Oplev, screenplay by Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg, based on Stieg Larsson’s best-selling novel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is not for the faint-hearted, but it is so worth the viewing.

Set in Sweden, the film, in a nutshell, is the story of convicted of libel reporter, Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist). He is called upon by Henrik Vanger (Sven-Bertil Taube), the wealthy former CEO of a huge conglomerate, to help him solve the mysterious disappearance of his beloved 16 year-old niece Harriet, not seen since 1976. With six months to kill before he goes to prison, Blomkvist takes the case and is assisted, unwittingly at first, by computer hacker extraordinaire, Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace). Salander has her own horrific back-story which is played out in unrelenting detail.

The two leads, Nyqvist and Rapace, are terrific and despite the age difference, have great chemistry. Each brings their own unique, but complimentary, humanity to their roles.

Some might question the graphic detail of several scenes, but to really understand where the characters are coming from, these scenes are necessary. The film is full of twists and turns, but none cheapen the story. In fact, they make the story richer.

So well written and sharply directed, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the quickest 152 minutes you’ll ever spend at the movies.
 

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Last updated: 2010-03-23 15:15:48 by jfuchsman

One of the better thrillers

My brother and I were late for this movie, so we only got to see the audience when the lights went back on. I'd describe it as above 50. The reason is probably that this is not your average Hollywood murder movie.

It has most of the elements that thrillers of this kind have. Clue by clue you are lead to the murderer, but the answer is only revealed at the end. Where is movie differs from most common thrillers is that characters are described more realistically, without certain bounds that most movies seem to have. This adds to the intensity of 'Men who hate women'.

This intense detective has some interesting twists, and should be quite enjoyable for most adults.

Vincent Snavely