The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2010) [DVD]

Like so many others I have found the three Larsson thrillers about Lisbeth Salander totally absorbing - real page-turners, very cleverly plotted and very well written. This film, of the first book, doesn't disappoint. It has loads of atmosphere, lovely, very Swedish cinematography, excellent acting and direction, and it conveys what is a very complex plot clearly and faithfully. A few things from the book are pared down to the bone - Blomqvist's relationships within the Millennium office, Lisbeth's first legal mentor (Palmgren), Lisbeth's professional relationship with her boss at Milton Security - but nothing that is essential, and the film is well paced and compelling. There is the faintest hint of a dip fairly near the end when one part of the plot is (very dramatically) sewn up and the film moves on to other, very necessary but lower-key revelations. But this is momentary, and the last ten or fifteen minutes of the film work very well. This is a fine piece of film-making, a good adaptation, and I expect that those who liked the book will be pleased with it and those that have not read the book will find it pretty gripping.

I picked the book up at Heathrow before a long flight to Sri lanka. I hadn't read a work of fiction for 15 years previously, but I finished it in the one sitting which tells you all you need to know. The driving force in the book of course was Lisbeth Salander, multi-lingual, computer hacking taser zapping tattooed punkette who appears to need protecting but definitely doesn't! Before I went to see the film I was worried whether an actress could do her justice. Step forward Noomi Rapace. Brilliant. Got everything bang on and the full on tattoo was great. Loved it. The film only changed the storyline here and there to make things flow, and if anything the ending was slightly better. The scenery is evocative and Blomquist is also well played by Nyqvist. A long film but I didn't even notice the time fly by. Taking a step back, I do think that having read the first two novels a couple of times now, this would have been why it is so easy to follow a film full of detail in a foreign language, and Salanders childhood flashbacks aren't explained so I would expect that some people who go in without having read the books may not keep track so well. So read the books.

Looking forward to the rest of the trilogy now and Swedish is definitely not necessary to enjoy this film - the subtitles are easy to follow.

I was initially somewhat reticent about reading the books as the titles seemed a bit pretentious and, the original being in a foreign language, something was bound to be lost in the translation. But when I went to see the film I was blown away by how well it was done! The violent sex scenes made me blink but, on reflection, they had to be pretty strong to achieve the context.

So pleased that it was sub titled and not dubbed! Acting was great, wonderfully realistic characters. So, having loved the film of the first book, I then went on to read the next two books. I couldn't put down the 'Girl who played with fire'. Fantastic and will certainly see the film when (or if)it is made. And, a more slower paced 'The Girl who kicked the hornet's nest' was also a good read.

Oh horrors! Is there really to be a hollywood remake? That proposal should go to the theatrical crimes commission! But I will reserve judgement!!! So, see the original! And make sure it isn't a dubbed version.

What a tragedy that Stieg Larson wasn't able to enjoy the success. And of course unable to continue with the Millenium series!

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", or "Men who hate Women" ("Männ som hatar Kvinnor") in the original Swedish, premiered in Scandinavian movie theatres in February 2009, and it has been out on DVD for a while, too. I saw it on the big screen, and I've just watched it on DVD, and I am still amazed at how good it is.

I don't particularly like Stieg Larsson's books, to be honest. I think they're overrated, catoonish, lecturing, and not very well written. There, I said it.
But the first one in particular had one thing going for it: It had a really great story to tell. And Danish director Niels Arden Oplev's 150-minute film version of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" cuts away the fat and the gristle, leaving only as tight, well-structured and exciting a thriller as you can imagine.

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is the story of a missing girl. And very much more. It is a dark and sometimes disturbing picture; actual graphic violence is quite rare, but there are few scenes which make you tense up in your seat, a gruesome and painfully realistic rape scene among them.
Injustice, malice and outright cruelty are everywhere (but I did smile at times, and even laughed once, as I suspect you will, unless you are a prude), but not in any stereotypical Darth Vader-fashion. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" avoids all the pitfalls of many lesser thrillers. The acting is superb all the way through, the manuscript is perfectly structured, and characters that could've easily ended up as bland clichés come to beautiful, three-dimensional life on the screen. Or in some cases hideous three-dimensional life.

This is a highly effective thriller, one of the darkest and most exciting I've ever seen. The story in itself is no better than those laid out in dozens of other thrillers or whodunnits, but it is beautifully, virtually flawlessly realized. A must-see, really.