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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ( Män Som Hatar Kvinnor) (2009) – Trailer Included
The Computer Hacker and the Journalist face Deadly Sins.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Available on DVD
Director: Niels Arden Oplev
Starring: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Sven-Bertil Taube, Ingvar Hirdwall, Tomas Köhler, Peter Haber, Marika Lagercrantz
Based on the first volume of the Stieg Larsson’s best selling Millennium trilogy, the novel Män Som Hatar Kvinnor literally translates into English as ‘Men Who Hate Women”. Dubbed The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo for western audiences, this Swedish cinema adaptation is a dark mystery thriller with deliberate intent.
In its two and a half hour running time the film serves up an involving crime investigation that features a lead character every bit as intriguing as the plot itself. Thick in threatening atmosphere, moodily shot and brilliantly acted this is a film full of genre archetypes cleverly used.
The story begins with a prologue. Retired corporate giant Henrik Vagner (Sven-Bertil Taube), head of the multi conglomerate Vagner clan opens a package. Inside is a delicately pressed flower, dried and preserved for display but carrying an obvious emotional weight for the gentleman. This simple gift will become the catalyst for what is to follow.
Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) is the star reporter for millennium magazine, a financial gazette that has run a scathing expose on the criminal activities of a dominant media force. Charged with slander, Mikael is in court and a corrupt verdict sees him sentenced to a prison term scheduled to begin in six months.
The high profile case puts all eyes on him, including Henrik Vagner who has requested a background search from Milton security. Assigned to the task is the emotionally distant, calculating Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace). An expert computer hacker with serious psychological issues and a cold exterior, the results of her research see Henrik enlist the help of the disgraced journalist. .
Hired to investigate the disappearance of Henrik’s beloved niece Hariett, who has been missing for 40 years Mikael begins his work and soon discovers monsters in the closet of the powerful family. All of whom are suspects.
Clues lead to more questions and after hitting a wall a break comes with the unsolicited help of Lisbeth and the two join forces to solve a tangled web of disturbing murders.
Playing with Salander, the guardian is a man who truly hates woman!
John Doe says:
Technically impressive with a moody musical score of note, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an engaging excursion. Taking you into the bowels of twisted hierarchy, this is a bleak world full of unnerving realities.
The pacing is slow burning at the start and gradually snowballs to taut intensity without ever feeling rushed. Engaging it draws you in while managing to avoid predictability for the most part despite ticking all the boxes for this type of tale.
Director Niels Arden Oplev (World’s Apart, We Shall Overcome) ably rises to the task of bringing this beloved first chapter to the screen with attention paid to lighting nuance, controlled exposition and drawn out suspense. Eliciting quality performances, the focused direction restrains the savage violence without sacrificing the brutal impact to let your imagination fill in the blanks.
Jens Fischer and Erik Cress’ classy cinematography sets the tone. The screenplay by Rasmus Heisterberg and Nikolaj Arcel is well edited and manages to infer a lot of what has been removed from the dense source.
Paring back the financial world politics of the source but retaining the subtext that comments on the repercussions of violence against the fairer sex, this adaptation wisely sticks to the core story and doesn’t get distracted by peripheral characters and events. Ensuring the script takes its time before the inevitable uniting of the main characters, this gives us time to digest their complexities and later maximize tension through investment.
There is genuine depth to the relationship between Lizbeth and Mikael, a bizarre matching used to explore themes of trust and the human necessity for tenderness.
As Mikael Blomkvist, the recognizable in his homeland Michael Nyqvist (The Kautokeino Rebellion) manages to play a good guy without becoming a sap. There are several occasions where what could have been seen as weaknesses actually punctuate the parts resolve. His choices could have easily selected the macho hero route, but instead a quiet intensity juxtaposed by an aloof goofiness adds surprise to the interpretation.
Noomi Rapace (Daisy Diamond) is a revelation in the role of Lisbeth Salander. Digressing from the physical description in the novel she still carries all the internal demons with skill. There is an obtuse sexiness that comes through while also showing vulnerability despite the obvious kick ass female traits. Given very little dialogue, the isolated technophile is given detached and secluded believability through her actions. It is easy to see that there was a high level of commitment from the actress, who actually got the piercings to match Lisbeth and embarked on a rigorous diet while studying kickboxing and motorcycle riding.
The rest of the cast including Sven-Bertil Taube, Ingvar Hirdwall, Tomas Köhler, Peter Haber and Marika Lagercrantz all make their moments memorable without extroversion and enable the viewer to follow the myriad of names by connecting with faces.
After seeing the film twice John Doe is now anticipating The Girl Who Played with Fire Directed by Daniel Alfredson, brother of Tomas Alfredson who helmed the other Swedish juggernaut Let The Right One In.
For JD, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo may not quite match the pop culture hype surrounding it but it’s still an excellent example of traditional storytelling.
What David Fincher is going to do with the U.S. remake is anyone’s guess but he will surely handle it all with an emphasis on rattling the audience and dazzling with virtuosos prowess. At its best becoming a compendium piece to both the novel and this original big screen adaptation.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trailer.
Empire Magazine interviews Noomi Rapace about Lisbeth Salander.
Horrorphile
Screen Adventure
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
Rapace is out of this world and she is the only Salander for me.
The thing I love the most about this story, while sad, is that Larsson wrote all three manuscripts, handed them in and then died. He never got to see his stories become the phenomenon that they are. They are also pretty much unedited and his own story.
Australia is about to get cinematic release on the second story in the series, it is well done but I felt it rushed compared to the first film. Looking froward to Fincher's direction of them, my only issue is that rumours of Brad Pitt as Blmokvist make a little bit of bile come up.
Film & TV on DVD
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You could do a lot worse teh next time your in the mood for a mystery thriller Shaun
It's no masterpiece but does have a lot going for it.
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Fear not Jason,
As of today Daniel Craig has taken on the role of Mikael. I just did a post on it that you can read HERE
I know the caper with the Millenium trilogy and Steig's early demise. My wife loves the books and I have only read the first one.
The sequel is actually playing on the big screen here now, but no cash so will be waiting till DVD.
Thanks for the kudos. i will zip on over and read your review shortly.