The first adaptation of Stieg Larsson's "Men Who Hate Women" was the buzz of foreign film. It draws a modest crowd wherever it plays (like, "In Peoria") and David Fincher ("Se7en", "Fight Club") has jumped on the chance to remake it.
Why so much attention? Because the film is a modern day "Lord of the Rings" with a Hannibal Lector twist.
"Millennium" magazine's editor Mikael Blomkvist attempted to blow the whistle on a billionaire industrialist who was dabbling in the arms trade. After he is sentenced for to three months for libel, a set up to ruin the magazine seems apparent. In the publication's best interest, he has taken an indefinite leave of absence and will do his best to enjoy the six months before his sentence starts.
Lisbeth Salander is an enigmatic computer hacker who was assigned by former industrialist Henrick Vanger to verify the investigative credentials of Blomkvist. Both she and Vanger's associates feel that he is beyond straight laced and that he could not have committed the crime he was convicted for. Vanger decides to offer Blomkvist a means to earn a living before the prison term starts. The task is to find out who murdered his niece Harriet 40 years prior.
The only lead that Mikael has is phone numbers and names in the back of Harriet's bible. Neither he or the police can make sense of these, but fortunately Lisbeth is trying to prove his innocence. That means she is still hacking him to find out every possible detail, and she cannot help but crack the code presented despite it will expose her. Mikael was desperate for that break, so he decides that he will need to bring Lisbeth into the investigation. As they search for answers, more and more of themselves will be found out by each other. With their own drama developing, will they be able to stay focused on the task at hand?
It would seem that Fincher was adapting "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" to be his next "Se7en". He seems to have adapted the book, and did that with quite a bit of flair to make it a separate near equal entity. A wise move because if he tried to remake this film, he would have come across as a hack.
Part one of the "Millennium Trilogy" not only has it all, but maybe too much. Trying to include so much into this film leads to some weak pacing while we wait for Lisbeth's and Mikael's stories to converge. This would work well in a novel which makes the viewer deem that this must be an accurate adaptation.
One cannot complain too much about pacing because the viewer wants to see everything no matter how dark it may get. This maybe because of the dynamic performance of Noomi Rapace. As this mystery becomes more twisted, our hard as nails lesbian becomes more soft and caring. A change that is gradual and effective as more depraved the crimes become. The audience is presented a heroine that serves as a relatable Christian foil to the Nazi past of the Vangers. A comparison between Peter Jackson's premier trilogy to Oplev's film is that this is a journey where a fellowship develops around the sense of serving the good in a world where evil's presence is constant.
The director Niels Arden Oplev captures this story's scenes beautifully on whatever format this is viewed on. Surveillance cameras, laptops, etc., whatever he wants you to watch, it looks like it warrants being the center of attention. This film seems very real which leads to a greater impact on the audience. With the horrors this story discovers, this device allows the feature to strike a deeper chord with the audience.
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is the dark psychological cousin of Middle Earth's tales. Outstanding performances and brilliant direction allows the audience to stomach such a large amount of narrative. Oplev and company have made this novel their own and Larsson should be flattered to with this tribute to him.
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