Brilliant, just brilliant! “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” is a genuine and unique thriller that I was literally absorbed by the wonderful performances by Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace, the awesome cinematography and a storyline that literally sent chills up my spine. Definitely one of the best modern suspense films out there! Highly recommended!
Images courtesy of © 2010 Music Box Films. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Män som hatar kvinnor)
YEAR OF FILM: 2009
DURATION:2 hrs., 32 minutes
DVD INFORMATION: Swedish 5.1 Dolby Digita, English 5.1 Dolby Digital, Widescreen 2:35:1, Subtitles: English
RATED: R (For disturbing violent content including rape, grisly images, sexual material, nudity and language)
COMPANY: Music Box Films
Released Dated: July 6, 2010
Directed by Niels Arden Oplev
Based on the novel by Stieg Larsson
Screenplay by Nikolaj Arcel, Rasmus Heisterberg
Executive Producers: Anni Faurbye Fernandez, Lone Korslund, Peter Nadermann, Ole Sondberg, Mikael Wallen
Produced by Soren Staermose
Associate Producer: Jenny Gilbertsson
Line Producer: Susann Billberg-Rydholm
Coordinating Producer: Jon Mankell
Music by Jacob Groth
Cinematography by Jens Fischer, Eric Kress
Edited by Anne Osterud
Casting by Tusse Lande
Production Design by Niels Sejer
Costume Design by Cilla Rorby
Starring:
Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomkvist
Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander
Lena Endre as Erika Berger
Peter Haber as Martin Vanger
Sven-Bertil Taube as Henrik Vanger
Peter Andersson as Nils Bjurman
Invgar Hirdwall as Dirch Frode
Marika Lagercrantz as Cecilia Vanger
Björn Granath as Gustav Morrell
Ewa Fröling as Harriet Vanger
Michalis Koutsogiannakis Dragan Armanski
Annika Hallin as Annika Giannini
Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her beloved uncle is convinced it was murder and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) and the tattooed and troubled but resourceful computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) to investigate. When the pair link Harriet’s disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from almost forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history. But the Vangers are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves.
Author Stieg Larsson, who died suddenly in 2004, left behind three unpublished novels, known as the “Millennium†trilogy, which have become a global sensation, elevating Larsson to the world’s second best-selling author last year (behind The Kite Runner’s Khaled Hosseini). The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is one of the decade’s major literary success stories, selling over 8,000,000 copies worldwide, and the film adaptation is the highest grossing Swedish film in history and 2009’s highest-grossing European production.
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 Tattoo”, 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 now a US version based on the novel has been greenlighted and currently, casting for the film is now being done in the US.
With the third and last film of the trilogy titled “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest” set to be released in Sweden later in 2010, the film was received US distribution by Music Box Films in theaters and in July on DVD.
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” revolves around a man named Mikael Blomkvist (played by Michael Nyqvist). Mikael is a hard-working journalist who writes for the publication “Millennium” and in the process of going after a billionaire named 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 will land him in prison for a few years.
With only six months of freedom left, he receives a call from Frode (played by Ingvar Hirdwall), lawyer for very wealthy industrialist Henrik Vanger (played by Sven-Bertil Taube) 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. Also, 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.
So, with six months left of freedom and the fact that Henrik is willing to compensate him quite nicely, Mikael agrees to take on this case and 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 Noomi Rapace), who is a pro computer hacker, a photographer for hire, had been hired by Frode to study and learn what she could about Mikael.  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). And while she is hacking into his work computer, she finds his investigation on the disappearance of Harriet to be quite interesting and wants to help.
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, Lisbeth finds a code on his computer. The code was written on a bible by Harriet and no one, including the police have been able to crack the code. But 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. She wants to help him but if she does, it may reveal to him that she has been spying on him and hacking his computer.
But these two complete opposites may benefit each other in trying to solve the disappearance of Harriet Vanger.
VIDEO:
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” looks very good on DVD. The cinematography by Jens Fischer and Eric Kress is well-done. The various shots throughout Sweden during the various scenes of daylight, night, snow and heavy rain was well-captured. 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 director and cinematographers really did a wonderful job in bringing Stieg Larsson’s novel to life.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” is presented in Swedish Dolby Digital 5.1 and an English 5.1 Dolby Digital dub. I watched the film in its original Swedish presentation with English subtitles and the audio is very well-done. Great use of crowd and hardware ambiance, music and various action scenes that utilize the surround channels. Audio is clear and understandable and I actually would have love to hear the lossless soundtrack for this film on Blu-ray. But people who are curious about the Swedish track should know that it is clear.
As for the English dub, I prefer not too watch dubs but my wife does and I watched a little bit with the English dialogue and its well done. The good news is that the dub track is not by American’s trying to be Swedish which is good news and that the dub actors due have a slight accent.
But for both audio tracks, we vouch for the audio tracks that we listened to.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” comes with the following special features:
- Interview with Noomi Rapace – (12:30) An English interview with actress Noomi Rapace (who plays Lisabeth) who talks about playing the role of Lisbeth and enjoying the original novel and what preparation was done to transform to the character of Liabeth and the pressures she felt in playing this major role.
- Theatrical Trailer – (1:43) The English dubbed theatrical trailer for “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”.
- The Vanger Family Tree – A graphic showing the Vanger Family Tree.
- TGWPWF Preview – (1:25) An English preview of the second film in the “Millennium” trilogy, “The Girl Who Played With Fire”.
- Previews – Music Box Film Trailers
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.
And as I watched “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, 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).
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!
So far, a lot of the reviews haven been quite positive for this film. Those who have read the novel have had positive feelings while some have a hard time with the casting choices.
Duane Dudek of the Journal Sentinel writes, “The lead character, a crusading journalist, looks older and seems duller, and the title character, an anti-social computer hacker wearing a spiked dog collar and black lipstick, seems as if she belongs in a vampire movie. And the story that was so compelling on the page, about the disappearance of a teenage girl 40 years earlier, feels simplified and literal.”
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. I just don’t see this part going to a younger talent. Considering the US version has hired 007 actor Daniel Craig to play Blomkvist, the more seasoned writer than is very astute, observational and wise made Michael Nyqvist perfect for the role. And Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth was a wonderful casting choice.  To see her as an anti-social, goth-like computer hacker brought another dimension to this film. I literally can’t picture anyone but someone from the underground and also different from the norm in playing the role.
Since I haven’t read the novel, I don’t know how much detail was left out but for the most part, this is one of the few instances where I felt the longer duration has helped the film (where so many filmmakers abuse the longer duration for a film and sometimes lose sight of what made their film so entertaining with banal scenes). Personally, I didn’t feel the story was simplified but having read a variety of those who felt it was a solid adaptation and others who felt that the book was better, it’s all subjective.
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 Tattoo”, 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 the interview with Noomi Rapace was quite interesting to watch and see how she dealt with playing the character and seeing how the public had felt about her performance.  Also, it was cool to see the trailer for the second film which I really look forward too. But I wish there was an audio commentary track, featurette and more interviews.
Personally, as much as I enjoyed the DVD version, I now want the Blu-ray version. The cinematography was just great as was the audio that I want to watch this movie in HD and also hear it in lossless audio. If you are debating between both Blu-ray and DVD, I’ll tell you right now, go with the Blu-ray version because 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 Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace. These two were absolutely wonderful. I know there is a US version coming out soon but personally, the Swedish film was done exceptionally well and both the Blu-ray and the DVD comes with the Swedish and dubbed English soundtrack. But I just hope that the US version of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” doesn’t become another film that joins the list of horrible US remakes.
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 2010. Â “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” is highly recommended!
