Quick Movie Review: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)


Bottomline: Fantastic film.

Quick Notes: This film is Rated R for a reason. In addition to violence and scenes of violence, there is a particularly disturbing and brutal rape scene. It is Swedish so there are subtitles.

Interesting Note: The English version of the film is scheduled for release in 2011. Director: David Fincher [Social Network (2010), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2009), Zodiac (2007), Fight Club (1999), and Se7en (1995)]. Lisbeth Salander: Rooney Mara (Social Network (2010). Mikael Blomkvist: Daniel Craig (James Bond).

Quick Movie Review Opinion:
I feel sorry for Rooney Mara. She’s been cast as Lisbeth Salander for the 2011 English version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Unfortunately, she will inevitably be compared to Noomi Rapace, who portrays Lisbeth in the Swedish version of the same movie and, quite frankly, is fantastic. Granted, recent remakes have faired reasonably well with Chloe Moretz interpreting the role of the elementary school vampire first seen in the Swedish film Let the Right One In (2008) played by Lina Leandersson. Then there is the most recent re-interpretation of the role of Rooster Cogburn by Jeff Bridges – a role made famous by the one and only John Wayne. The only other film I’ve seen Mara in was The Social Network (2010) and she was good, but she didn’t have much to do other than break up with Zuckerberg, who gets angry and creates Facebook. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a fast-paced and intelligent thriller with twists and turns galore. It had me guessing right up to the end. The direction of Niels Arden Oplev is so well done that you don’t even notice the two hour plus running time. Opposite Noomi is Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomkvist, and he is excellent. I have not read the books so I will leave those observations to others. However, Noomi completely inhabits Lisbeth as a character and is mesmerizing. Whether you’re a fan of the books or not, if you’re a fan of thrillers and suspense, this is a movie you must see.