2010 2
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Film Review
The Millenium Trilogy is a series of best- selling crime novels, written by Swedish journalist Stieg Larsson, shortly before his death in 2004. The three books (translated in English as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest) were hugely successful in Sweden, before conquering the rest of the world, so it’s no wonder that Swedish film versions are already being released globally (with the expected Hollywood remakes round the corner). The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is the first one and introduces us to the main characters of the books: Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander.
Blomkvist is a journalist and publisher of Millenium, a well- known Stockholm magazine. After loosing a libel case against a wealthy businessman and being sentenced to a short prison term, he is approached by Henrik Vanger, CEO of Vanger industries and head of the wealthy and notorious Vanger dynasty. The old man wants Blomkvist to solve the mystery of the disappearance of his niece Harriet, who has gone missing for decades. Blomkvist reluctantly agrees and starts investigating, eventually crossing paths with Lisbeth Salander, an antisocial computer hacker who has been mistreated by the Swedish care system and has been institutionalized for most of her life. The two amateur detectives stumble across some horrific truths about the Vanger family history.
The film sticks pretty close to the book. It does attempt to condense the size of the plot and emphasizes on action more. This means that some very interesting background on the financial and political life of Sweden is sidestepped. It also means that Larsson’s main theme- the inherent misogyny of Swedish society- isn’t as obvious as it is in the novel. I didn’t mind though, because the film also manages to avoid one of the book’s greater problems: Larsson’s infuriating writing style. He may have been a respected journalist, but he had no flair whatsoever for fiction. The books tend to get bogged down in prosaic descriptions of laptop technology, IKEA furniture and people’s breakfast habits. Plus, although the reader is constantly told through the book how Blomkvist is regarded as a famous reporter, an amateur sleuth and a great lover, the man himself never says or does anything remotely charismatic. And yet, every woman in the novel wants to fuck him- apart from one and she has sex with him in the second book, so that doesn’t count. It’s really fucking irritating. In the movie, Blomkvist is portrayed by Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist, who has all the magnetism and charisma of a human- sized block of wood (so basically, his performance is truly faithful to the book).
>
Still, none of the millions of fans of the books actually read them because they loved Larsson’s writing or his male protagonist / transparent alter ego. No, they read them for Salander. She is a bisexual, goth genius, serving justice to rapists and bureaucrats alike, and the character could have easily been a cartoon. Noomi Rapace gets it right though, playing her as a stubborn and intelligent woman and not as an archetypical ass- kicker. Her performance elevates the film from airport- pulp fiction to something slicker.
A word of warning: Like the book, the film involves some protracted scenes of sexual violence. The film was criticized by some for sensationalizing sexual assault, but I don’t agree. Abuse is a major theme in the book and appears either clinical and post- mortem, or ugly and disturbing in the film. Still, if that sort of thing upsets you, keep it in mind. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is creepy, little suspense thriller. Hollywood isn’t likely to improve on it, so you might as well catch it while you can.
(-Dimitris Kontogiannis-)
About the Author: CnB
on “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Film Review”