This review was originally written and published in the summer of 2010 before I knew “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” was a book and before it was an international phenomenon as well as before I knew any casting news on the American version.
Before I had even seen “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” I had heard news about its announced American remake directed by David Fincher. I hope that film is not a direct remake, as this Swedish film is a dark, disturbing, complex and cerebral thriller with a hard R-rating. After seeing it, I’m less excited for the American version and more so for the two sequels due out in the same calendar year.
This is a rare thriller that does as much for its story as it does for its characters. It has an intricate plot about a journalist named Mikael Blomkvich (Michael Nyqvist) being framed for forging evidence for an article. He’s got six months until his sentence, and in that time, businessman Henrik Vanger (Sven-Bertil Taube) has hired him to pick up the pieces of a murder/disappearance case that’s 40 years old. His niece Harriet was murdered by one of the members of the Vanger family, and after some digging, Mikael suspects three brothers that were Nazi supporters.
As he investigates the murder, Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace), a goth girl and the best computer hacker in Sweden, is investigating him to find proof that he really forged the evidence. She says Mikael’s clean, but she continues following him and helps him out with the murder case. Lisbeth’s a recluse with a mysterious past, a criminal and psychiatric record, and she’s a feminist with lesbian urges.
Throughout the course of the film, we see her endure some serious pain and torture, but the other side of the coin is her ability to dish it out as well. The complexity of her character lies in her questionable morals and ethics, which teeter the line between decency and justice. Continue reading “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2009)”