Directed by:
Niels Arden OplevCinematography:
Eric KressComposer:
Jacob GrothCast:
Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Lena Endre, Sven-Bertil Taube, Peter Haber, Peter Andersson, Marika Lagercrantz, Ingvar Hirdwall, Björn Granath, Ewa Fröling (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
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 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 and the tattooed, ruthless computer hacker Lisbeth Salander 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 Vanger's are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves. (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (10)
It was clear to me that the movie could never fit in everything from the book, but the book still took a beating more than I would have expected. Perhaps the only change for the better was that Blomkvist looked for Harriet because he remembered her from his childhood. Otherwise, I was and still am quite at a loss. Everything seemed too rushed to me, even the oft-mentioned rape (and revenge), the script just had pieces of lot of things just to have them appear in the film and then move away from them immediately... It barely had any atmosphere, dammit! The book stands and falls with Lisbeth Salander's character, and I was initially happy to see Noomi Rapace play her. In the end, though, it didn't seem very appropriate - she simply wasn’t weird enough. In this respect I'm pretty much betting on Rooney Mara from the American remake, who looks much more unusual from the photos. I'm giving it two and a half stars, mainly because after an hour I was thinking "Well, if I fell asleep now, nothing would actually happen". And that's not a good sign.
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From the very beginning, each scene grows darker and more depressing with each passing moment, and yet neither the final reveals or the catharsis were at all moving for me. Maybe it's because there are so many emotional walls built around Lisbeth that I ended up watching her from a distance the entire time, and I was much more fascinated by Mikael. Or maybe it was that the adaptation merely skipped a few scenes that would have greatly helped me; it's hard to say. All I know for certain is that this wave of depression passed right by me, however engaged I was in the mystery itself.
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I've read the book as well as seen the film and I'm happy with both. A perfect example of how to make a crime thriller with a grim, dark atmosphere and very little frantic action. The choice of the two leads was atypical, Lisbeth wasn't just unpleasant but unpleasant to look at, Mikael Blomkvist was a middle-aged man with fat rather than muscle, but it worked surprisingly well. This uncontrived look gave the film a much more down-to-earth and realistic vibe. It just goes to show the difference between European and American filmmaking. Instead of melodrama, you’ll get a good dose of chilling atmosphere. I can't go below five stars.
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Venturing into Scandinavian cinema occasionally is definitely worthwhile. I’ve been focusing on the acclaimed film trilogy based on Stieg Larsson's work. I love their style and the lengthy shots of the desolate snowy landscape. Plus, these nations don’t shy away from gritty realism in their detective stories; everything is presented in a raw, unembellished manner. Of course, not everyone might appreciate that, but it works for me. The main acting duo is convincing, with Noomi Rapace delivering an excellent portrayal of her hacker character. I enjoyed the story’s gradual unfolding of a horrifying secret, with the increasingly intense atmosphere giving me chills at times. Michael Nyqvist also performed well. My compliments go to the screenwriters, as the film avoids any nonsensical elements that would make my head spin. The plot is cohesive, and the audience can follow it easily. I’m looking forward to the sequel, as the first film impressed me, and I expect more quality. I give it 81%.
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I didn’t read the novels and haven’t watched the other two parts of the trilogy yet, so I don’t know whether some of the apparently pointless things in this film will have any meaning in the future, but the fact is that they feel very redundant within the scope of one feature detective movie. That said, I believe in the principle that I call “pointless things happen” (not all the events that simultaneously take place in real life are important for the main event taking place, therefore, they too should be included in scripts – i.e. they don’t have to be directly causal), and as such, that relatively redundant affair with Lisbeth’s caretaker didn’t bother me at all. If the film had finished half hour earlier, I would give it five stars, but that pointless epilogue brought the rating down a point.
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