I know it isn’t fashionable to like more the English speaking remake of a worldwide popular film franchise produced for a nation other than the good U. S. of A., but I liked this version of ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ better than the 2009 Swedish movie. Both of course are based on Stieg Larsson’s 2005 (Swedish title ‘Men who hate women’) novel (the book was first published in English in 2008). Even though I appreciated the actors in the 2009 film, the action scenes felt lacking in something. For instance near the end of the story there is a scene involving a character on a motorcycle chasing and SUV and it felt…well, it felt iron deficient.
This new version has a bit more sparkle. I believe Rooney Mara is a better Lisbeth Salander than Noomi Rapace. Mara has more of the delicate features that I associate with Salander. Daniel Craig plays Mikael Blomkvist and the cast includes Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgard, Robin Wright, Joely Richardson, and Goran Visnjic. The movie itself seems to be raking in a fair amount of cash, although I wouldn’t label doing over 107 million dollars worldwide a blockbuster (the budget was 77 million) there are already plans for ‘The Girl Who Played with Fire’ and ‘The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest’ to be filmed back to back. Honestly, I think this film will hit its stride on DVD because being released during the holidays only increased the competition. Side note, both Repace and Michael Nyqvist (Blomkvist in the earlier film versions) starred in high profile films that opened this past holiday season – Repace ‘Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows’ and Nyqvist in ‘Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol’.
For the most part this theatrical version follows the book accurately except for the bit where Blomkvist is sent to a Swedish prison. I distinctly remember reading this part of the book and laughing to such a degree that I had to read the passage aloud to a friend. You see (and I don’t know how accurate the interpretation in the book is in comparison with reality) there is a world of difference between Swedish prisons and American ones. In the book the Swedish prison sounded very much like a stay at a Motel 6 (one that you weren’t supposed to leave though I vaguely recall that prisoners were allowed to leave if they stated where they were going).
If you are unfamiliar with the storyline please note that there is a graphic rape scene along with an overall disturbing plotline; therefore if you are easily made uncomfortable with violence then stay clear of both cinematic and literary forms of ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’. However if you like to see retribution delivered with a flair few things are more satisfying than watching how Salander dish a big slice of Karma back to her attacker.
My one complaint about the film was that it felt as if the decade the story took place was the nineties, which ties in better with both the ages of Stellan Skarsgard’s and Joely Richardson’s characters. I also sensed the technology was dated if the timeframe was supposed to be the present. I concede though that the novel was written before iPhones hit the marketplace.
Overall, I would recommend ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’. I don’t think it is that much of a whodunit, as an interesting tale introducing intriguing characters. This isn’t a film that one should go on a first date nor load the kids in the minivan for some family fun. The movie very much deserves its R rating. I think it will play well on DVD.
