The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

• Year: 2009
• Released: 30 Apr 2010
• Country: Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Norway
• Adwords: Won 1 BAFTA Award18 wins & 35 nominations total
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1132620/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_girl_with_the_dragon_tattoo
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: Swedish, English
• MPA Rating: R
• Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
• Runtime: 152 min
• Writer: Nikolaj Arcel, Rasmus Heisterberg, Stieg Larsson
• Director: Niels Arden Oplev
• Cast: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Ewa Fröling
• Keywords: based on novel or book, rape, island, journalist, whodunit,

	7.8/10
	76/100
	86% – Critics
	86% – Audience

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Storyline

Found guilty of libel, Mikael Blomkvist, the disgraced journalist working for the radical magazine Millennium, has six months to settle his affairs before serving three months in prison. It’s been forty long years since the unaccountable disappearance of the then-sixteen-year-old Harriet Vanger, and now, her uncle, the powerful industrialist, Henrik Vanger, enlists his help to get to the bottom of the baffling case. As Mikael goes through piles of archives, newspapers, and photos with suspects, an unexpected ally in the shape of the taciturn misfit and brilliant computer hacker, Lisbeth Salander, decides to lend a hand, bent on leaving no stone unturned to unearth the dark and ugly secrets of the cryptic Vangers. And now, more than ever, missing Harriet demands justice. Can Mikael, and the girl with the dragon tattoo, shed light to the opaque mystery?

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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Movie Reviews

A Worthy & Different Crime Mystery When Compared To American Films Of The Genre

An intrigue fueled slow building thriller, “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” is a refreshingly different take on the “whodunit” crime genre. This Swedish movie has loads of great cinematography, taking advantage of the beautiful Swedish country side as well as framing the eerie story. The principal characterizations are quite well suited by the cast who fit naturally in the roles they play with great realism. Like I have already noted this is a much different presentation as compared with American filmed crime thrillers. Even though this obviously has a well-funded budget it is grittier and less commercialized thus lending a realism over glossiness. The music score also adds quite a bit of ominous darkness.

I guess if you want to be overly critical you could punch a hole or two here or there, but I think this story comes off so most all viewers will ignore any inconsistencies in favor of the mysterious pieces which, eventually, add up, but not too fast – keeping the viewer invested and hoping to figure out how it may all end.

Though graphic at times, it isn’t “porn-horror”, “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” is a dark story where the unsettling pieces fit. I am fairly certain it will not be released in the US, but if you can see it do so as it is a well crafted and executed drama.

Dark Thriller

While I haven’t read the books/novels, I enjoyed the movie very much. Even if it’s only part 1 of the trilogy, it still feels like a movie that has a beginning and an ending. I can’t say how that works in the books, but the translation to the screen seems really good (voting here underlines that).

While thrillers are mostly considered TV material and this one might borderline on that fine edge, it still deserves to be seen on the big screen. The actors (mostly unrecognizable to the worldwide audience) are really good. The editing and pacing is great and it’s really a great suspense movie. A little thriller that dares to go to dark places.

Swedish thrillers don’t get much better than this

Although this Swedish version of ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ was followed by two sequels and an English language film a couple of years ago directed by David Fincher, it is very much the best of the four films.

It is a very loyal adaptation of the book (generally one of the most faithful book-to-film adaptations around), which is a fantastic read and has become of my favourite books recently, adhering closely to many of the book’s events and such and also perfectly maintaining the bleak and murky atmosphere the book effortlessly creates. However, ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ works even better on its own terms. The central relationship between Mikail and Lisbeth is ever so slightly rushed, however it still resonates while wisely not taking over the story too much (doing a much better job in this aspect than Fincher’s.

Fincher’s version may be more audacious visually, though this film is a long way from a hack job, and the script here does occasionally lack polish and flow. However, the atmosphere is much more effective here and there is generally more tension and chills, and personally prefer the performances here too (though Rooney Mara in Fincher’s film is certainly no slouch).

Enough with the comparisons. ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ (2009) does look great, the bleakness of the setting adds so well to the atmosphere and it’s tightly edited and very nicely shot. The haunting and doom-laden score fills one with dread and creates a lot of rich tension. Neil Arden Oplev’s directing is masterful, building on the tension and suspense to frightening heights while also directing with a lot of class.

‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’s’ story is incredibly gripping, there is a lot of subplots and characterisation and the film remarkably makes everything intriguing, layered and complete. The long running time allows this to happen admittedly, but with a good deal going on and with deliberate pacing the film easily could have rushed through things or neglected aspects but very rarely does those things. The subplots are superbly chilling with constant and effortless delivery of shock after shock. The bleak and murky atmosphere is present throughout, as is the dark and at times brutal (but not gratuitously so) tone, with plenty of twists and turns that shock and surprise better than a lot of thrillers from the US.

All the acting is very good indeed, but it’s the two leads that really impress. Michael Nyqvist makes his vulnerable and flawed character a fascinating character that could have been less complex in lesser hands, but the film does belong to Noomi Rapace, whose seamlessly enigmatic performance is positively screen-burning.

Overall, a great film and one of not many book-to-film adaptations that treats its source material with respect. Swedish thrillers don’t get much better than this. 9/10 Bethany Cox