The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Män som Hatar Kvinnor)
Directed by: Niels Arden Oplev Cast: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Peter Haber Running Time: 2 hrs 30 mins Rating: R Release Date: April 16, 2010
PLOT: A disgraced journalist is hired by the powerful head of a wealthy family to find a woman missing for 40 years. He's joined by an antisocial hacker and together they uncover way more about the Vanger family than they anticipated.
WHO'S IT FOR? Fans of the bestselling novel will line up to see this film. But if you don't know the book, be prepared for a sometimes violent but also very interesting story.
EXPECTATIONS: The novel's great, I was hoping the film would be equally strong.
SCORECARD (0-10)
ACTORS:
Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomkvist: The film starts with Mikael Blomkvist being found guilty of libel. He chooses to leave his magazine, but isn't unemployed for long when he gets an offer from Henrik Vanger to search for his long missing niece. This character gets more time in the book than the film, we're never quite clear here why Blomkvist takes Vanger up on his offer. It's to Nyqvist's credit, then, that I didn't question his decision. In a film where so many men are dangerous, Blomkvist seems like a teddy bear, despite his considerable size. He even seems less equipped to understand and deal with violence than Lisbeth. I went from worrying that people were out to get her to hoping she would protect him. Score: 7
Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salandar: The most interesting character in the film is Lisbeth Salandar. Her description in the book seems uncastable, a tiny young woman with short hair, multiple piercings and the titular dragon tattoo (which looks totally awesome in the movie by the way), who knows how to handle herself in a fight and has the authorities believing she's mentally disabled when in fact she's almost a genius. Rapace doesn't look perfect for the role, but she manages to really embody the character, making Lisbeth seem more real than she does on the page at times. Lisbeth doesn't talk a lot, so it's good that Rapace can communicate so much with her face. This is a career-making performance. Score: 9
Peter Haber as Martin Vanger: Besides the two leads, almost everyone else in the film is a potential suspect in the disappearance of Harriet Vanger. One of the most innocuous is Martin, her brother. He's either a boring businessman or a secret kidnapper, or maybe just a weird Vanger. When the truth is revealed, it's both surprising and a bit of an "of course" moment. Score: 7
TALKING: There's a lot of dialogue in the beginning, it may help to be able to read quickly for this one. But it's very focused, everything reveals something about character or story, nobody's just talking to hear themselves. Score: 7
SIGHTS: Sweden looks cold and grey, not unlike Portland and February. But there's a spare elegance to the filmmaking that elevates the proceedings. Score: 7
SOUNDS: The music works for the film, but I won't be buying the soundtrack. Score: 5
PLOT SPOILERS
BEST SCENE: It's hard to say best, but the scene where Lisbeth takes her revenge on her social worker is truly horrific, but it was also the scene where I decided she was awesome, and not someone you want to piss off.
ENDING: Though (slightly) different than the book, everything works out for the best. I wanted Lisbeth to stay with Mikael, and though she doesn't explicitly say she won't, I doubt they'll meet again. But it would have seemed out of character if she had developed a stable relationship.
QUESTIONS: What were those flashbacks with the car on fire about? How can Lisbeth not get caught hacking?
REWATCHABILITY: After seeing it once, you may want to see it again just to see if the murderer stands out.
OVERALL
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an adaption of a hugely popular novel, originally titled Men Who Hate Women in it's native Sweden, and there's a reason for that. Oplev makes some interesting choices in his adaptation. There's more implied violence than actual violence (we never see blood spurt out of someone, for example), but the effect is actually more horrifying. Still, despite the fact that terrible things happen to some women in this film, don't mistake me, this is not a misogynistic film by any means. It deals with a sensitive subject very well. Though slow at times, by the half-way point, when the movie begins to kick into high gear, you'll be riveted. The strength of this film lies in a combination of interesting characters and good story; Oplev knows what he is doing and focuses on the main plot. I did miss the dog from the book (though to be honest it's absence doesn't really effect the film). It's a very solid adaption of a great novel, and a plain old good film for anyone who hasn't read the book.
FINAL SCORE: 8/10