Disgraced journalist, Michael Blomkvist, is hired by Swedish
industrialist, Henrik Vanger, to write his memoirs and surreptitiously
investigate the unsolved disappearance and assumed murder of his niece Harriet.
Lisbeth Salander, a tattooed computer hacker, hired to do the background check
on Blomkvist, is also roped into the investigation and the two unlikely
partners delve deeper into a mystery that holds many more secrets than they
ever imagined and soon threatens their lives.
Because not everyone in the world
can handle the idea of reading subtitles whist watching a film, this
English-speaking version of one of the greatest crime thrillers of our age has
thus been created, picking up an Academy Award in the process and sharing these
wonderful heroes and heroines with the rest of the world. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was an absolutely FABULOUS book and
the Swedish films that were made shortly afterwards were also brilliant. I have
to admit that I was a bit peeved and iffy about an English-speaking remake
being made, mainly because there was a chance that it would not do the story
and the characters justice. I really needn’t have worried. This version of one
of my favourite books was just as thrilling, repulsive, engaging, and memorable
as its Swedish predecessor, which I loved. The book is actually quite lengthy
and the screenwriters have done an excellent job in condensing it down to a
mere 2 and a half hours, which contain all the key parts, and keeps you
captivated from start to finish.
Disgraced journalist, Michael Blomkvist, is
hired by Swedish industrialist, Henrik Vanger, to write his memoirs and
surreptitiously investigate the unsolved disappearance and assumed murder of
his niece Harriet. Lisbeth Salander, a tattooed computer hacker, hired to do
the background check on Blomkvist, is also roped into the investigation and the
two unlikely partners delve deeper into a mystery that holds many more secrets
than they ever imagined and soon threatens their lives.
To recap, this movie
won the Academy Award for Best Achievement in Film Editing and rightly so. The
film is put together perfectly considering that there are actually two stories
running parallel with one another. Everything was smoothly interwoven and there
is no jaggedness or sudden upheavals of to be seen.
Daniel Craig stars as
Blomkvist, revisiting the role after it was first brought to the screen by
Michael Nygvist. Daniel did a very good job and I think he may have even been a
slightly better Blomkvist as there was this unidentifiable charm about him,
something that the character in the book also had; Nygvist, although delivering
a wonderful performance just did not have that subtly captivating charm.
Rooney
Mara stars as the film’s heroine, Lisbeth Salander: the most intriguing and
fascinating heroines of the age. Reprising a role that was originally bought
faithfully to the screen by Noomi Rapace, Rooney delivered an equally brilliant
performance; sealed, frank, unreadable, and aggressive. I think Lisbeth’s is a
tricky part to play and Rooney did remarkably well.
Starring Christopher
Plummer, Stellan Skarsgard, Steven Berkoff, Robin Wright, Yorick van
Wageningen, Joely Richardson, and Geraldine James, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is a wonderful movie that’s filled
with action, violence, suspense, mystery, murder, and even a touch of
“romance”. I think everyone involved did very well and melded all their talents
together to create something pretty damned awesome.
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