Escape to the Movies: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

[Metalrocks]

im glad to hear that this movie is ok but i will not watch it. i really liked the original version and i will stick with them. just to see a movie made by english speaking people is still no reason to make it.
i might watch it when its on dvd for rental.

pretty much the same as with the grudge. even when sahra performed really well in it and the movie was still good and well made and still spoke japanese besides the engllsih speaking actors of course, the original japanese version was still the best. hell, even my father liked the jap version of the grudge.

 

[Xenominim]

Haven't seen the remake but I do have to agree with Moviebob on the premise of the original. It's a very flawed story, and the director of either the original or the remake should have at least made some changes to make Blomkvist a compelling protagonist, which it doesn't sound like they've done in this version either. That said the original still works at least as a basic thriller/mystery and me and my friends enjoyed it enough to watch the sequels. But the sequels really are more like soap operas in how silly they become and me and my friends spent more time laughing at Played with Fire and Hornet's Nest than we did anything else.

 

[Suicidejim]

Personally, I really enjoyed the film, and as a fan of the books I felt it did them justice. Normally I'm against American re-makes as a rule, but I preferred this film to the Swedish version. My main criticism is that the whole murder investigation is pieced together in the film with as little expositionary dialogue as possible, using lots of visual cues instead (lots of close ups on photos, Daniel Craig painstakingly highlighting important phrases on police reports, that kind of thing), which I realize was there to streamline the whole thing without weighing it down with unnecessary conversations, but also made the investigation harder to follow as a whole. I could hear one girl behind me whispering the details to her boyfriend, who obviously hadn't read the books. Still, I would certainly recommend it.

 

[Lieju]

I've never seen the movie versions, but I read the books, which were mainly kinda bad.
I found them rather cheap, not really because of the killer-plot, but because of the whole 'This guy wrote a really good book about the economy and I want to get these issues across, but instead of writing that book myself I'm just going to write about this totally convincing book!'

But for those who have seen the movies, how is her sexuality handled in them? One critic wrote that she is a lesbian in them and has 'rejected' men, but falls in love with the main character.

Which wasn't how it was in the books, in which she is bisexual, and her relationship with Blomkvist is not about her sexuality changing, but letting someone close.

So I'm wondering, was that critic misrepresenting the movie?

What exactly is a neofeminist?

Is it just someone who's defined by a dislike of woman haters or what?

No seriously, I've only ever heard Bob use that term.

"Neo" generally means just "new", so a new wave feminist. Which some people take as someone who believes women are superior, and some as someone with progressive views. So depending on the person it can mean totally opposite things.

The way I've usually encountered it is as derogatory to women, and as an accusation that they believe that women are superior, but some people have used it just to mean a modern feminist.

 

[AkaDad]

I get the strong feeling this was remade mainly due to average american's inability to watch a movie with subtitles. Point is they should just read more often. The original was better.

I can't speak for all Americans, but the reason I hate subtitles isn't because I don't like to read, it's because when I'm reading subtitles, I'm missing out on the actor's expressions and other visuals in the films.

Books and blogs are for reading. Movies are for watching and listening.

 

[CosmicCommander]

Bob, it's been weeks now.

I've still got that nuke- and it's still primed on you if you don't get down to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

HOW DARE YOU TRY TO AVOID IT, BOB. I THOUGHT YOU LOVED US.

 

[daxterx2005]

McMuffins are gods gift to man.

 

[Callate]

...So the director of Alien 3 is suddenly too good for this kind of material?

I'll admit it, I'm probably a little defensive as someone who actually read and enjoyed the novels. But if there's some kind of consistent formula for why one genre's tropes and weaknesses get a pass and another's are subject to sneering derision in MovieBob's reviews, I'm definitely not seeing it.

 

[Sean Deli]

It is also a bit disturbing to hear the actors' attemps to talk Swedish (BIG emphasis on "attempts"). Don't get me wrong the American actors are good (especially Mara), and I certainly don't fault them for not being able to speak a language that is so foreign to them, but Americans just can't for the life of them pronounce Swedish.

You felt this after seeing one(1) film.

Imagine being Russian and sitting through this in EVERY BUCKING HOLLIWOOD MOVIE that involves "Russian mafia" or "Russian terrorists" or "Soviet soldiers" - which would be close to a hundred flicks.

Somewhere over second dozen you just give up and start laughing at it. Bitterly.
Last one for me was Rockenrolla (not Holliwood, I agree, but still extremely atrocious pseudo-Russian)

 

[floobie]

I mean no disrespect when I say this... but I find it difficult to take seriously the criticisms of this story being ridiculous or over the top or cliche, from the same person who clearly loves the hell out of cheesy, cliche, ridiculous, over the top super hero comics/films, and has posted several videos trying to prove why they're a lot deeper than they appear (not without success, though).

My take on the series as a whole. I've read the books, seen (and own) the Swedish films, and saw the American adaptation. This is one of those weird cases where I find the movies (the Swedish ones) better than the books.

It might be a result of the translation, but the books come off as a little dry here and there. The writing is very "literal". Not much in the way of imagery or emotion. The story and the characters fill in those gaps well enough, but it's a bit strange to read... albeit very easy.

I see Blomkvist as sort of a Harry Potter kind of character. When you read the book, you basically see the world through him. He's the sort of character that's intentionally generic, so the reader/viewer can impart their own personality on him, and develop an emotional connection to the story.

The American film was very good... but, there are a few things that prevent it from stacking up to the Swedish films, in my opinion:

- While Roony Mara did a great job of Lisbeth, Noomi Rapaace just felt more "right" to me. Rapaace just felt a lot more ruthless, focused, and confident to me... qualities that I'd personally associated with the character quite a lot.

- I found the American version too funny. It obviously dealt with some very unfunny subject matter, but I thought the little bits of humour injected into the dialog throughout detracted from the overall tone.

- The varying accents. This always bothers the hell out of me. Half the characters had thoroughly British accents, a few had American accents, and maybe one or two attempted a Swedish accent. Fine, it's an English movie. I can deal with that. But, I'd appreciate some consistency. Give them all British accents, or all American accents, or all Swedish accents.

- The first half hour or so of the American version felt ridiculously rushed. The scenes never felt complete to me... it felt like they were trying to cram as much background information as possible into as little time as possible, by flashing from short scene to short scene at a really fast pace. Had I not known the story to begin with, I'm pretty sure I'd have been totally lost. There is a lot to cover... the Swedish version also felt a bit rushed in the beginning, but not to this extent.

- What I liked about the Swedish films was that they actually cut down a fair bit of the original story... stuff that I found pretty superfluous (without giving anything away). The American version attempted to be a bit more accurate, but the movie ended up feeling simultaneously rushed during the beginning (previous point), and drawn out towards the end.

 

[Telperion]

Hm...I have watched the original Swedish 16-part long tv-series for this thing. Whatever this thing is...is beyond my interest.

 

[Psykoma]

I had never seen the swedish version, nor have I read the books. I probably wouldn't have seen this version if I wasn't invited to go.

But I liked most of it.

I just had a few problems with watching it.

Spoiler

1. The names. If it wasn't Mikael, Lisbeth, or Harriett I'd not be able to name them. I wouldn't be able to identify their last names either, even the three previously mentioned.
2. I didn't find the rape/golf club scenes that bad, the only part that I covered my eyes for was when Mikael stepped out of the cottage, yelled 'fuck', and stepped back in. I covered my eyes almost immediately and didn't open them again till I heard the motorcycle sounds indicating a new scene.
3. I didn't really notice a lot of the thought processes going into solving the mysteries.

 

[TheGauntman]

Weird how in this movie people are giving Rooney Mara all of this acclaim for her acting chops yet in the Nightmare remake she's as wooden as a tree.

Yeah, I thought she was the worst thing about A Nightmare on Elm St. She was so blank, even when emoting. I spent most of the film asking "Is she meant to be scared now? Angry? Sleepy? What does that facial expression mean?"

 

[Dirty Apple]

The first book while silly was still a fun read and had some very well done moments . the second and third book were just ridicules and not in a fun way.

Also who the killers identity was just stupid ???.

Man oh man, I couldn't agree more. I liked the first book, even though Blomkvist is second only to Bella Swan as the most blatant mary sue in modern literature. But, it took all of my power to trudge through the last two books. They were meandering and disjointed.

To all those out there contemplating reading the series, stop at the first book and message me if you want me to give a synopsis of the final two.

 

[cathou]

if anyone want to know, Stieg Larsson was planing 10 books and died when he was half way through book 4. also the Swedish name on the first book is män som hatar kvinnor (Men Who Hate Women). I don't know way I wright this, maybe someone is interested.

Actually, it clarify something for me. the french title of the movie is "Millenium : Les hommes qui n'aimaient pas les femmes" (Millenium : men who dislike women). I was wondering if it was the english title or the french title that was incorrect. now i know.

Beside, i liked the swedish version, but i wont see the american one. i saw too many movie butchered by american remake already

 

[FallenMessiah88]

Meh...In my opinion, if you want to watch it, watch the original. Also, I have to laugh at Bob suddenly being all snooty about this movie not having enough "artistic merit".

 

[SenorNemo]

What MovieBob said about the film's story is true, as far as it goes, but I simply didn't care. That film would have worked for me even if the story had been non-existent, just because of how interesting the characters were, and how well handled the atmosphere was. It could have been about Ms. Salander going about her daily life and I still would have loved it. I have not read the original novel (something that's been on my to-do list for quite a while), nor have I seen Oplev's adaptation, but judged completely on it's own merits, it's pretty darn great.

 

[(sic) humor]

I know that all works in fiction have some degree of author self-insertion, but the ways they can be handled are extremely varied.

Lisbeth, for example, seems like the author's idea of what a kick-ass woman should be, but at the cost of any semblance of realism. She shrugs off multiple rapes with little to no hint of emotional trauma, she has prodigious computer skills despite being institutionalized for most of her life and thus having no real access to a computer, and despite her the-bastard-had-it-coming approach to justice, she gets away with far more crimes than some of the villains she takes down.

And while the author makes her sympathetic (due mostly to an almost comically over-the-top tragic past), she's still sort of a ***** to the people who are only trying to help her. Several times over the course of the novels characters suggest she may have some sort of autism, but that seems like a shallow diagnosis to explain all that's messed up with this character.

As for Blomkvist, he's the most likable male in series by virtue of being the least rapacious. I'm all for writing about social issues and women's rights, but the books divide men into serial rapists and journalistic superheroes. Putting all of the characters at such moral extremes (and I wouldn't consider Lisbeth one of the good guys) sort of undercuts his message about such a complicated and nuanced topic.