DVD Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Sweden)

Film Reviews Mon, 07 Mar 2011 Written by Mike S
Editor rating
 
 3.0 User rating
 
 0.0 (0)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Sweden)

The much pondered film versus book debate is revived here with this DVD review. Read triplew.me's review of the high-selling modern 'classic'...

A young Harriet Vanger disappears from the family estate in 1966. Foul play is suspected and the list of potential killers is large…

Some 40 years later, Harriet’s grandfather Henrik, as with every year since Harriet’s vanishing, receives yet another framed dried flower arrangement in the mail; is it from his granddaughter’s killer?

Henrik Vanger (Sven Bertil Taube) enlists investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) to privately delve into the decades old case and attempt to uncover the truth – once and for all.

Enter tattooed goth girl Lisbeth Salander, (Noomi Rapace) a clever, but criminal computer hacker who has been “employed” by a large, and seemingly corrupt corporation to secretly hack into Blomkvists private computer and life.

Lisbeth soon discovers he is innocent of the dirty accusations the corporation is attempting to bring against him, and decides to “help out” with his Vanger investigations (and, being a computer hacker, she can see what Blomkvist is currently working on).

Together they discover a sequence of mysterious references in Harriet’s worn bible that eventually lead them on a trail of macabre unsolved murders.

Other strange facts concerning Harriet Vanger's disappearing act are soon exposed with the assistance of a retired police detective and a series of startling photographs taken the day she vanished. The puzzle becomes more complicated and the list of prime suspects grows, including several of Harriet’s closest relatives; some of which were members of the Nazi party.

Ultimately, this murder mystery thriller does have brains, but for all its suspenseful drama, the latter part of the film unfortunately suffers from some obvious pot-hole sized plot holes, and the story’s climax feels somewhat laboured and over explained.

Swedish literary giant Stieg Larsson, original author of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, is a novelist whose prowess as a crime writer is recognized internationally. His Millennium Series of books is a “best selling” phenomenon. If the author were alive today, we suspect Larsson would persuade you to stick with his page-turning book rather than spoil a good story with this mildly above average movie adaptation. (Available from any book store you care to walk into).

What's even more concerning is the Hollywood version planned to come out this year.

STARRING

Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, and Sven Bertil Taube

DIRECTED BY

Niels Arden Oplev (We Shall Overcome, Worlds Apart)

WATCH THE TRAILER HERE


Editor review

Perhaps loses something in adaptation

Rating:
 
 3.0
Reviewed by triplew.me
March 07, 2011
 
Last updated: March 07, 2011
This was always going to be a difficult adaption. With the book containing strong scenes and often confronting, the film has done an OK job at the adaptation of the best-seller. It's going to be interesting to see Hollywood's take on the film via David Fincher.
 
 

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