Magnificent! David Fincher’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo†is a thriller that I was literally absorbed by the wonderful performances by Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara. While I enjoyed the Swedish version of the film a lot, I do enjoy how this version of the film incorporated more of the book. Overall, this film is highly recommended!
© 2011 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved.
DVD TITLE: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
DURATION: 158 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: 2:40:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, English and French 5.1 Dolby Digital, English Dolby Surround, English-Audio Deescription Track,, Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish
COMPANY: Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
RATED: R (For Brutal Violent Content including Rape and Torture, Strong Sexuality, Graphic Nudity and Language)
RELEASE DATE: March 20, 2012
Directed by David Fincher
Screenplay by Steven Zaillian
Based on the novel “Man som hatar kvinnor” by Stieg Larsson
Produced by Cean Chaffin, Scott Rudin, Soren Stermose, Ole Sondberg
Executive Producer: Anni Faurbye Fernandez, Ryan Kavanaugh, Mikael Wallen, Steven Zaillan
Co-Producer: Berna Levin
Associate Producer: Jim Davidson
Music by Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
Cinematography by Jeff Cronenweth
Edited by Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall
Casting by Laray Mayfield
Production Design by Donald Graham Burt
Art Direction by Frida Arvidsson, Linda Janson, Pernilla Olsson, Tom Reta, Patrick Rolfe, Kajsa Severin, Mikael Varhelyi
Set Decoration by K.C. Fox
Costume Design by Trish Summerville
Starring:
Daniel Craig as Mikael Blomkvist
Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander
Christopher Plummer as Henrik Vanger
Stellan Skarsgard as Martin Vanger
Steven Berkoff as Dirch Frode
Robin Wright as Erika Berger
Yorick van Wageningen as Nils Bjurman
Joely Richardson as Anita Vanger
Geraldin James as Cecilia Vanger
Goran Visnjic as Dragan Armansky
Donald Sumpter as Detective Inspector Gustaf Morell
Ulf Friberg as Hans-Erik Wennerstrom
Bengt C.W. Carlsson as Holger Palmgren
Tony Way as Plague
Per Myrberg as Harald Vanger
Josefin Asplund as Pernilla Blomkvist
Eva Fritjofson as Nna Nygren
Moa Garpendal as Harriet Vanger
Disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) accepts an invitation to surreptitiously investigate a forty year old unsolved murder on behalf of the victim’s uncle, Swedish industrialist Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer). Meanwhile, tattooed hacker Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), hired to investigate Blomkvist, discovers the truth behind the conspiracy that led to his fall from grace. Thrown together by fate, the unlikely duo uncovers a secret history of murder and sexual abuse festering beneath the veneer of Sweden’s industrial past, all the while drawing closer to a quiet evil waiting to engulf them both.
Stieg Larsson is known in Sweden for his contribution to sci-fi fandom but to the outside world, he is known posthumously for his “Millennium†trilogy especially with the novel “Män som hatar kvinnor (Men who hate women)†aka “The Girl With the Dragon Tattooâ€, the first novel of the trilogy and a novel based on manuscripts by Larsson written but unpublished until after his death in 2004.
In 2008, Larsson became the second best-selling author in the world and the trilogy had sold 27 million copies in more than 40 countries.
In 2009, the film received its Swedish adaptation and the film which was created for $13 million would go on to earn $102 million worldwide and with the success of the novels and the Swedish film, it was no surprise that Hollywood would come knocking and create an English version of the popular storyline.
The 2011 version of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” was directed by award-winning director David Fincher (“Fight Club”, “Se7en”, “The Social Network”, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) with a screenplay by veteran writer Steven Zaillian (“Schindler’s List”, “American Gangster”, “Gangs of New York”).
The film would feature the cinematography of Jeff Cronenweth (“Fight Club”, “The Social Network”, “One Hour Photo”) and music by Trent Reznor (“The Social Network, “Se7en”, “Lost Highway”) and Atticus Ross (“The Social Network, “Twilight”, “Limitless”).
Starring in the film are Daniel Craig (“Casino Royale”, “Quantum of Solace”, “Cowboys & Aliens”), Rooney Mara (“The Social Network”, “A Nightmare on Elm Street”, “Youth in Revolt”), Christopher Plumber (“A Beautiful Mind”, “The Sound of Music”, “Beginners”), Stellan Skarsgard (“Good Will Hunting”, “Thor”, “Mamma Mia”) and Robin Wright (“Beowulf”, “Unbreakable”, “Moneyball”).
The film was quite successful in the box office earning over $229 million and also winning and being nominated for a plethora of awards worldwide. Including an Academy Award for “Best Film Editing” (Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter).
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo†revolves around a man named Mikael Blomkvist (played by Daniel Craig). Mikael is a hard-working journalist who writes for the publication “Millennium†and in the process of going after a billionaire named Hans-Erik Wennerström and unveil his shady business practices of supporting gun runners and illegal criminal activity, he was set up and now he finds himself in a losing libel case which has ruined his reputation as a journalist.
With only six months of freedom left, he receives a call from Dirch Frode (played by Steven Berkoff), lawyer for very wealthy industrialist Henrik Vanger (played by Henrik Vanger) and arranges a meeting for both men. When Mikael goes to meet with Henrik, Henrik Vanger knows of Mikael’s determination and persistence as a journalist and briefs him on a disappearance of a woman named Harriet Vanger, a former babysitter for Mikael when he was younger.
Mikael learned that 30 years ago, something happened to Harriet and with no lead to her disappearance (and everyone thinks she is dead), Henrik wants Mikael to find her killer. Also, when Harriet was alive, she would send Henrik an artwork of a flower every year for his birthday and even after her disappearance, someone is sending Henrik this artwork (Henrik suspects it may be the person who has murdered her). But what makes the investigation quite interesting is that someone from Vanger’s family may be the person responsible for murdering her and Henrik’s brothers were also people who were loyal to the Nazi party and some who have hidden secrets in their personal life that they may not take so kindly that someone is looking into the past.
But because Henrik has also been keeping files on Hans-Erik Wennerström, he tells Mikael that no only will he be paid double for his work, he will also receive these files on Wennerström after he looks into the case of Harriet.
So, want to escape the public scrutiny, Mikael agrees to take on this case and temporarily move closer to Henrik’s home to find anything he can that is related to Harriet’s disappearance
Meanwhile, a goth-like young woman Lisbeth Salander (played by Rooney Mara), who is a pro computer hacker, a photographer for hire, who had been hired by Frode to study and learn what she can about Mikael Blomkvist.  Although her spying on him is done, there is something about Mikael that interests Lisbeth and she enjoys hacking his computer to dig up information of what he is doing in his personal life (or what he is investigating).
Although it seems that Lisbeth seems to be having fun hacking and spying on people, her life is not as great as she has a tough life. As a person who lived in a ward for an unknown crime that she committed when she was younger, a government official that oversees her money is using Lisbeth’s weakness as a way for him to get sex. Lisbeth is unwilling but the government official threatens her that if she doesn’t do what he says, he can make her life inconvenient. So, she feels that she must perform for this government official in order to get any money that she earns from her job.
As Mikael’s investigation seeming as if he has hit a dead end, he discovers a code that his daughter has felt it was biblical-related. The code was written on a bible by Harriet and no one, including the police have been able to crack the code. But needing some help with the case, Frode decides to bringing the right person for the job and sure enough, both Mikael and Lisbeth will be working together.
Lisbeth, who is very intelligent (and also has a photographic memory), knows what the code means and maybe able to help Mikael with his research. Will these two complete opposite people be able to work together? And with the multiple murders that has happened in the area, is it connected to Harriet’s disappearance?
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” is presented in 2:40:1 anamorphic widescreen and presented in English and French 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Dolby Surround plus an English audio descriptive track. It’s important to note that “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” will be released on Blu-ray and this is one of those films that are shot in a variety of locations, beautiful cinematography that would look absolutely fantastic on Blu!
I didn’t notice any compression artifacts or any major PQ problems. Personally, I was impressed by the cinematography that I actually am looking forward in picking this film up on Blu-ray and watching it via HD. It’s a stunning film that the David Fincher and David Cronenweth really did a wonderful job in bringing Stieg Larsson’s novel to life.
As for audio, once again, this is where audiophiles would opt for Blu-ray for its lossless soundtrack. On DVD, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s music sounds clear and there are moments of action scenes such as a rifle shot and explosion, but it’s a film where ambiance plays a big role in the film and what you hear the most through the surround channels.
Subtitles are in English, English SDH, French and Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” comes with the following special feature:
- Commentary by Director David Fincher – Featuring an in-depth audio commentary by director David Fincher.  From discussions of the cast, the characters, locations, stunts and overall making of the film
My first foray into “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo†came from my wife. Her family members have loved the novels and my wife was going crazy reading all three novels and then watching the film. She has told me many times to read the novels in the trilogy but with so many books in my reading queue, I figured, why not see what the hype is all about and watch this film for myself.
When I watched the Swedish version of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattooâ€, I was drawn in by the performances of Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace. Their performance was magnificent, as was the cinematography by Jens Fishcer and Eric Kress. Just the amount of footage shot in various weather conditions and locations was quite impressive but most of all, bringing the novel to life (as my wife would say).
I also knew there would be a David Fincher version of the film but I was skeptical at first because I enjoyed the Swedish version so much. When it was revealed that veteran Steven Zaillian would be writing the screenplay version and that Daniel Craig was hired to play Mikael Blomkvist, I figured, let’s see how things go.
Similar to the Swedish version of the film, I absolutely enjoyed Fincher’s version of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”.
This film was not only suspenseful but it literally sent chills down my spine. The film is not for the weak at heart when it comes to violence and torture. The film has many graphic moments of people who have been murdered, people who have been raped and I’m not going to sugarcoat things… this film is violent.
But the film is also a suspenseful, haunting thriller that not only grabs your attention, you literally root for these characters that are completely opposite but they take you on an amazing ride with quite a bit of twists and turns along the way.  I have no problems saying that “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo†is one of the best modern suspense films that I have watched in long while. And I’m talking about overall acting, cinematography, pacing and how well the story is conceived. It’s a fantastic film!
Personally, these characters are what I loved about the film. The character of Mikael Blomkvist is an experienced writer who is taking on a billionaire and now having to face a serious libel charge that he libeled him due to false information he was given.  While I was skeptical of Daniel Craig at first, he managed to do a fantastic job playing the character. But the character I was the most skeptical is Lisbeth. Noomi Rapace was fantastic and when I saw pictures of Rooney Mara prior to her playing Lisbeth, I was not sure how this would play out, but she instantly transformed herself into a new breed of Lisbeth. Different from Rapace’s version but still effective.  As for the character of Lisbeth Salander, to see her as an anti-social, goth-like computer hacker brought another dimension to this film.
But what works is the slight changes that were made to this 2011 American version of the film from the original Swedish version of the film. The American version actually incorporates more of the book to its storyline than the Swedish version. For one, Blomkvist is not a character that has to be worried of going to prison. This impacts Blomkvist in the Swedish version of the film, in the American version, he does not have to worry about prison time at all.
Another major difference is that the book focused more on the relationship between Mikael’s Millennium Magazine partner Erika Berger and this is more evident in the American version. Also, in the book, Mikael’s daughter had importance and in the Swedish version, she was barely mentioned. In the U.S. version, Mikael’s daughter is a major key to the discovery of deciphering the code made by Harriet.
There are also quite a bit of differences involving Lisbeth Salander, such as the Swedish version has her mugged by a gang of men, not the case of the US version. Also, the introduction between Mikael and Lisbeth are very different between the two films. But most importantly, the relationship of both Mikael having to work with Lisbeth and how it affects the characters to the final scene of the film. Which I actually enjoyed from the American version over the Swedish version of the film.
While I enjoyed the Swedish version a lot, in many ways I also enjoyed the American version even more. Mainly for its attention to details from the book that was incorporated into the film, although I enjoyed Noomi Rapace’s version of Lisbeth Salander even more, Rooney Mara’s version actually works much better. But I do enjoy both films a lot, it’s just that the 2011 version, they were able to incorporate more of the book and tweak the storyline a bit more.
I suppose it’s a bit more subjective to the viewer familiar with the Swedish film and the book but if I wished there was two things that weren’t changed in the American version, it would revolve around Blomkvist’s problems with prison time and a scene revolving Lisbeth and the assailant, which I enjoyed from the Swedish version even more.
If there was one subject that I feel may touch a nerve with viewers is a rape scene (well, actually there are others who have been raped and tortured) but there is one graphic scene that may turn people off. I for one, dislike disturbing scenes like this in a film especially if was done for shock value. In the case of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattooâ€, although a film that contains a lot of violence, I felt that the violence was not gratuitous and was appropriate to the story but again, this is subjective as I’ve read those who felt it was appropriate and others who felt it was bit too much for their taste.
As for the DVD, the DVD doesn’t come with a lot of special features but an audio commentary by David Fincher. As mentioned, if you want the best version of the films, go for the HD release as I’m sure the film will look and sound incredible on Blu-ray. A movie this good, demands to be seen on Blu!
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo†is a fantastic film featuring an awesome performance by the talent, a chilling screenplay adaptation and wonderful cinematography and music.  It’s a film that will no doubt send shivers towards your spine but you will feel that you are captured by the film by the solid performances courtesy of Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara. These two were absolutely wonderful and felt that Steven Zaillian and David Fincher did a magnificent job in including more of the book to this adaptation of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”. And I can only hope the two work together again for the second film and see if they can fix some of the problems that the Swedish version of the film was criticized for.
Overall, I absolutely loved this film and if you have not watched this film yet, I absolutely recommend one putting this on their must-buy list for 2012.
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo†is highly recommended!
