The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (DVD)
This Swedish film of the blockbuster novel by the late Stieg Larsson is something American audiences shouldn't miss, because it won't be long before Hollywood comes bursting on the scene with a flashy version that whitewashes all the grit and deep meaning out of this impelling thriller. While not a perfect interpretation of Larsson's mile-a-minute express train of a novel, it hits all the high points while also brooding on the deep fear that impels the main characters.
Directed by Niels Arden Oplev, the movie stars two actors whom I wouldn't pick to stand in for the book's protagonists, but they are excellent performers. Michael Nyqvist stars as Mikael Blomqvist, the daring reporter who searches for the killer of a girl, Harriet, who disappeared 40 years ago. While in the book, Blomqvist is a bit of a love machine, falling in and out of bed with just about every woman he encounters, Nyqvist is not a looker and has a bit of paunch. Certainly, he's someone you'd pass by on the street. But maybe that's the point for Oplev, who cuts all the affairs—save one—from the movie.
More central to the film is the casting of Lisbeth Salander the slightly disturbed (some say with Asberger's Syndrome) young woman, who is a wiz with computers but has problems relating socially. She's stuck in Sweden's mental health system as someone labeled as only slightly competent who must report to a "guardian." More on that later. However, in the book, Lisbeth is described as tiny (she calls herself pathetically small) and not good-looking. She learns self-defense to make up for her weaknesses and dresses punk style. Well, they have the punk style down with Noomi Rapace, but I doubt Larsson had this long, leggy brunette in mind when he wrote the book. Sure, she can stage a dogfight in Stockholm subway, but this is not the Lisbeth described in the book.
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