100 Movie Challenge 2017 - # 59: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Director: Niels Arden Oplev
Genre: Thriller
Runtime: 145 minutes
Year: 2009
Starring: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Gunnel Lindblom, Michalis Koutsogiannakis, Sven-Bertil Taube, Ingvar Hirdwall, Peter Haber, Ewa Fröling, Marika Lagercrantz, Sofia Ledarp, Fredrik Ohlsson

Description: A journalist (Michael Nyqvist) is aided in his search for a woman who has been missing -- or dead -- for forty years by a young female hacker (Noomi Rapace).

Review: The Millenium series is probably one of the most talk about book series of the past years, written by Swedish author Stieg Larsson. At first, they look like standard Scandinavian thrillers, but the books eventually turn out to be page turning experiences, with a fascinating main character: Lisbeth Salander. And this was the biggest deal. Were they going to find the right person for this rol in the film?
Director Niel Arden Oplev decided to give Salander a bigger role in the film, which is a good thing. She is far out the most interesting part of the stories. But the movie starts out with Michael Blomkvist and focusses on him at first. He just quit his job at the magazine Millenium, after he lost a case in court. Blomkvist is hired by business man Henrik Vanger, to investigate the disappearance of his niece Harriët Vanger. During his search, Blomkvist teams ups with Lisbeth Salander. She is a young yet driven hacker. Salander always dresses in black and is covered with piercings and tattoos. It is clear that she is traumatized by things from the past and has lost contact with practically everyone in her surroundings.
To adapt a books with over 500 pages to film, you have to make decisions and still don’t lose the magic of the source material. Here they made the right decisions. The trial of Blomkvist, the first hundred pages of the film, are summed up in ten minutes for the film. Good choice. The film wins in tempo here. And the many affairs that Blomkvist has, are also brought to a minimum. The only problem I had with this film, is the same I had with the book. It’s too long and the last part drags and doesn’t feel needed.
Noomi Rapace is the right choice for Lisbeth Salander. It’s a though role to play and she does an excellent job.
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” is a strong thriller, that threated the source material with respect. It’s definitely better than the American version by David Fincher, which was also a good movie.

Rating: 4/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 65: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Director: David Fincher

Genre: Thriller/ Drama

Runtime: 156 minutes

Year: 2011

Starring: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Stellan Skarsgård, Robin Wright, Embeth Davidtz, Joely Richardson, Christopher Plummer

Description: Journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) is aided in his search for a woman who has been missing for forty years by Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), a young computer hacker.

Review: The choice for David Fincher as director for the first American part of the Millennium trilogy is surprising. Not alone was there an excellent Swedish version of the book, but with a huge project like this Fincher could easily be upstaged. “The Girl with the Dragon tattoo” is a good Fincher film: loyal to the book, the well known dark tones, controversy and memorable lead performances by Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig.

The film is long, but the pacing is very high. Praise goes to cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth, who often works with Fincher. But like the book, the story goes on a bit too long, which makes you lose focus at the end. The connection between Lisbeth and Mikael is strong, thanks to fantastic performances by Daniel Craig and especially Roony Mara. It’s a tough role to play, but she does it perfectly.

With minor critics, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” is a very good thriller.

Rating: 3,5 / 5

50 Books Challenge 2011 - # 47: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (Millenium # 1)

Title: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millenium # 1)
Author: Stieg Larsson
Story: Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected and unsettling offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues.
Start: august 27th 2011
End: september 3rd 2011
Comment: I've been wanting to read this series for quite some time now. A friend of mine is a big fan of the trilogy, so I just had to read it too. When I started reading, it took a while for it to become interesting. The start of the story is filled with a lot of information and that overwhelmed me. But after a slow start, it becomes really interesting and I litteraly couldn't put it down. I just had to keep reading and I loved how the characters of Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander developed. Not only individualy but also the realtionship with each other. Although Lisbeth is a very complicated character, I did sympathize her eventually. I liked Mikael from the beginning, especially in combination with Lisbeth. It wasn't as mindblowing as I expected it to be and it's certainly not one of my favorites, but I did enjoy the first book in the "Millenium" series and I'm definitely going to continue reading the rest of the trilogy.
Rating: 3,5/ 5