User reviews

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has been a worldwide phenomenon for a while now. In book form, the original film, and the Hollywood remake. It is a disturbing, yet riveting tale, as is the story behind the author who made it. While Fincher's version is visually and stylistically more striking, I feel this original Swedish film does a better job bringing the disturbing mystery to the silver screen. Structured much more fluidly than the Hollywood version, the mystery of a missing girl flows and develops slowly, dishing out red herrings and suspense with each turn (something lacking in the Fincher version). It also stays closer to the original title of the book (and theme) Men who Hate Women. In the end, this is a dark tale of what rape does to women and to the world. Not everyone's idea of 'entertainment,' but a thought-provoking mystery for those with strong stomachs.

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

If I have to use a single word to define this movie I would use 'Engaging' as the movie is quite gripping.

The movie is a crime thriller in which a journalist is helping a old industrialist with the help of a female hacker and the main leads are Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace.

The movie is very gripping and will keep you engaged Special credit to be given to the screenplay writer. Background music is good, locations are very beautiful. Acting is perfect.

Overall a good and engaging thriller movie to watch.

Awesome Swedish film with a intelligent story. a journalist and a troubled young female hacker works together on resolving a 40 year old mystery involving a disappearance, murders, Nazis and one hell of a dysfunctional family. the storytelling by the director was great and captured my attention for almost 2,5 hours. the character buildup is thorough and makes a solid foundation for the rest of the film. in addition the characters are straightened by a superb cast played by Michael Nyqvist and especially Noomi Rapace. Camera work and the overall look of the film is astounding, especially on bluray. the movie takes you to it's locations and doesn't let go until the story is complete. a must see for those who likes an intriguing edge of your seat thriller.

This film was very well-made with superb cinematography. The actors all portray their respective characters perfectly, although Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander, Michael Nyqvist as Michael Blomkvist and Sven-Bertil Taube as Hanrik Vanger deserve a special mentioning. They are all very likable and believable.

The films story is very exciting and puzzling (for those that haven't read the book) and the pace is steady with some really tense situations. The investigation part of the story is excellent. Although it is 2.5 hours long it is never boring.

The soundtrack was also very fitting and helped to set the mood of the film. This is far above any other Scandinavian thriller production, and I look forward to the rest of the films/series.

I recommend it to anyone!

I went to see this film having heard nothing about it at all and another film I wanted to see wasn't on the Sunday matinée bill...so, this looked interesting...best 5 Euros I've spent in a long time. Very, very good thriller but NOT FOR CHILDREN and I was genuinely surprised how much I enjoyed it - well filmed and well acted by the main protagonists; I know nothing of Swedish actors but apparently Michael Nyqvist is well known and I thought Noomi Rapace was brilliant (a young, headstrong, tattooed and "talented" computer hacker Lisbeth Salander with a traumatized past) I thought the film was superbly directed (Niels Arden Oplev); I am already looking forward to the second film later this year AND I will go and buy the books...

I decided to go all-out and give myself the full Millennium experience by watching the TV miniseries (9 hours in total) over the space of three nights. As a result, these reviews are of the extended, three-hour editions of each film rather than the condensed, theatrical two-hour versions.

Wow. I loved it. I'm not a huge fan of the crime genre, and I haven't read the books, but THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO is a difficult film to fault. It's a mature and mannered piece of film-making, dealing with adult and taboo themes and wrapping the reader up in a realistic and conscious mystery yarn.

Despite the slow pacing, the movie is thoroughly engaging. Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace are both excellent leads, bringing to life fully flesh and blood characters who engage the reader's sympathy and emotions throughout. The thriller aspects of the story are exciting and as a whole this is a mature and fully developed piece of work. Onto the next...

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.

The music lends a threatening aspect to the opening scene, where we in slow close ups – on and off deliberately out of focus – get to follow the opening of a package. Inside the package, post marked in Hong Kong, is a framed plant. The camera starts to move backwards, taking in more of the room and revealing Sven-Bertil Taube as the opener of the package. He holds the frame in his hands, lowers his head and slowly starts to cry.

Niels Arden Oplevs Män som hatar kvinnor is based on the first of Stieg Larssons three bestselling novels, meaning of course that it is basically guaranteed large box office numbers – but the expectations will probably match those numbers. Weather the film manages to live up to these expectations I cannot say – seeing as I am one of the probably only eight people who has not read Stieg Larssons books. But as a piece of cinema, completely removed from its literary origins, it definitely leaves an impression!

The music mentioned above, written by Peter Fuchs, is the first thing to register in the mind as something interesting… Something that make everything feel very serious. The impending-doom-score composed by Howard Shore, for David Finchers Se7en, springs to mind – and this only a few seconds into the film.

The cold, hard, uncomfortable reality – where the movie takes place – is populated by a highly recognizable legion of people straight out of Swedens acting elite… (Gösta Bredenfeldt, Lena Endre, Ewa Fröling, Björn Granath, Peter Haber och Marika Lagerkrantz to mention a few) …and they all seem to have been so thrilled to be a part of this project that they almost as one has taken their characters a step back, allowing the spotlight to be shone on the two main characters, who also get to drive the story forward; the reporter Mikael Blomkvist (Mikael Nyqvist), who is digging through a 40 year old murder case involving a well known corporation family with Nazi connections, and the 24 year old computer hacker EMO Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) that every day hacks Blomkvists hard drive, captivated by the puzzling evidence (or lack thereof).

Nyqvist gets the job done playing what is basically the lesser of the two parts. You instinctively feel sympathy for him, and sympathizes with him – even in his very first scene, in which his character is convicted of slander, and sentenced to prison.

But when the lights come back on in the theatre, and you gather up your half eaten box of popcorn and your coat, it's not Mikael Nyqvists understated but persistent reporter you will remember most…it's Noomi Rapaces leather-and-stud clad, tattooed, pierced, heavy makeup wearing biker chick, Lisbeth Salander.

Weighted by old wrongdoings as well as new ones, Lisbeth is covered in emotional scars, making her a very interesting character – that easily could have been a silly rehash, a Gunvald Larsson in leather. But Noomi Rapace bases Lisbeth in real emotions rather than clichés and hammy over acting. You can tell that there is a real person behind that steely gazed, unyielding face, something that make those parts of the movie, where we get to come with her through what must be some of Swedish cinemas most horrendous scenes, feel that much more awful. You almost can't help looking away, as she is abused over and over again…

The relationship between Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander is the only part where I felt the movie rushed things just a tad. But this is only a mild piece of criticism, as the lack of insight leaves the audience feeling that they, just like the character Mikael Blomkvist, don't know what to make of Lisbeht Salander.

Besides the two leads, I want to single out Peter Haber, who really got to show off his skills! He is obviously good for more than just playing the silly father of Sune or the annoyingly correct police Martin Beck.

I have, like I mentioned earlier, not read the novels by Stieg Larsson, and I have an automatic aversion towards Swedish cinema; which I usually find stiff, with acting taken straight out of the latest grocery store commercials. In other words, Swedish film has its work cut out trying to sell me anything. But, and I am not ashamed to admit this, I'm gonna go ahead and BUY!!!

In the narrow little world that is Swedish cinema there is a lot that one could – or even should – avoid. But this movie is not something to be ignored! So leave the kids at home (this is NOT a very pleasant film) and head for your nearest multiplex to take in of the most thrilling Swedish films in a very long time!

I am among, I guess, those very few people in Europe who have not read the best-selling novel by Stieg Larsson, but, not feeling in the mood to see another too emotionally engaging romance or drama, although its being my favourite genre, I went to see what is depicted by Larsson's fans as a captivating and gripping thriller.

Indeed, I can't say whether the movie proves adherence to the novel, which is something by the way difficult, considering the length of the book, however, I can say that the product is a well-crafted piece of cinema, which leaves also interesting food for thought. Used as we are, as southern Europeans, to see at Northern, and mainly Scandinavian countries, as models of democracy, economic progress and social welfare, it's quite surprising to see a modern Sweden stained by corruption and unscrupulous tycoons. Moreover, it is quite upsetting to get to know how Nazi extremist and insane ideas were rooted not so much in the history of the country, but in the conscience of people, in this case of a powerful and wealthy family, where the hatred towards the Jews has mixed with the hatred towards women, turning the lives of whole generations into a hell of ferocious violence and horror.

As far as the thriller story, it's engaging, but carried on very carefully, every aspect being under control, with flashbacks constantly reassuring us about aspects we have already perceived, without moving a little apart from a well consolidated stylistic model of this kind of movie genre. Sometimes a little slow, sometimes too indulging in violent scenes, but with a strong directing consciousness supporting it. Convincing and really good the performances offered by the whole cast, unknown to the great public, but I would underline the actress playing Lisbeth as really outstanding and upsetting in her mental and emotional distress. On the whole, it's not a masterpiece, but a good and well made movie.

Lisbeth Salander knows exactly what to do, to the men who have no honour, morals, rules, without virtue, displaying little sympathy, for bigoted misogyny, wears a dragon on her back that takes the form of a tattoo.

Together with Mikael she's tracking down a killer, a little bit contrived but not a disengaging filler, skulduggery unwinds, over decades lost in time, it's an admirable transfer, popular book to a filmed thriller.

The copy of this I rented has the presentation of a feature film, but I think it may have been edited from a Swedish television series adapting a trilogy of novels, of which this is the first. This version is a little over two and a half hours, but the IMDb notes that there is a fuller three hour version which I'm guessing might have been the original TV presentation. What was in that extra half hour? It might contain material that answers some of the criticisms I make below, but I wouldn't want to bet on it.

The basic plot is that an investigative journalist, smarting from losing a libel case brought by a corrupt businessman, and facing a jail sentence (for libel? They must do things differently in Sweden), is hired by a wealthy businessman impressed with his integrity to investigate the disappearance, decades earlier, of his niece. The businessman is convinced (for reasons that are not entirely clear) that she must have been murdered by a member of his family (note that this is a very old-fashioned family-based capitalist enterprise, on the Buddenbrooks model).

With over two and half hours to explore, one might hope for some real plot and character development and some fine dramatic scenes, but the drama is almost entirely dead. Here are some of the things we don't get (I could list more, but am avoiding spoilers):

We get very little idea what the family enterprise actually is. There's a photo of a ship;are they shipbuilders, perhaps? Or are they just exporting goods?

Though the family are mostly gathered on the island, and the investigator assembles a handy photographic family tree, we scarcely get to meet most of them, even less witness any dramatic interplay between them. I remember one scene only in which the family actually get together to attempt to deter the investigator.

We have been assured by the patriarch that the family are greedy, grasping,selfish vipers, but we are treated to none of the dramatic or satirical fun that might come from this.

Though the island has great symbolic significance, it has no cinematic presence at all. The bridge that we are assured is the only way on or off the island might just as well be a bridge across a river for all the difference it makes.There is little sense of remoteness, isolation or confinement.

There is a dark undercurrent of previous Nazi involvement. But this is just stated baldly, as a fact. We get very little idea of what this meant or even really when it was. During the war? Neo-nazi revivalism? Both? And apart from the fact that we can take it as given that Nazis are nasty people, there is no attempt to explore how this actually affects their actions and beliefs.

More simply, what we have here is the Swedish equivalent of an English country house murder, basically dealing with the rich and privileged, and with the cast of suspects conveniently assembled in a single location. But instead of the detective teasing out the solution by interrogating the suspects, playing them off against each other, and catching them out, all we get is seemingly endless shots of the investigator or his computer-whiz sidekick tap-tap-tapping away on their laptops (Apple Macs, if you must know, and heaven knows you get long enough to admire the speed and smoothness of the software).

Look, I know that the Internet and cheap computing has brought about a revolution in thinking and behaving and that film-makers are struggling to come to terms with it, but let me propose a general working rule for film-makers. Computers are not dramatically interesting.

It's like voice-over. You can get away with it a bit, and sometimes it can even enhance a film; but if you find yourself relying on the voice-over, then chances are you've gone wrong. You're failing to tell the story properly in the medium of cinema, and if it's just a straight narration, your audience would be better off reading a book. So it is with computers and internet investigations. You can have a secondary character who's a computer expert, or you can have one episode of intensive computer use if the plot absolutely requires it. But if you find that the whole drama relies on it, or worse, that you have to fill all your screen-time showing it, then you can be sure you've gone badly wrong. Your audience would be better off surfing the net themselves, or composing electronic music, or photoshopping their snapshots, or playing games.

What was that? Oh, yes, the sidekick. Well, that's the woman "with the dragon tattoo", though why she has it I still don't know. It's just the title of the film. She's a young lesbian punk, though hilariously, as in every middle-aged liberal man's fantasy, the investigator succeeds in "turning" her just by the sheer non-sexist force of his personality. Oddly enough, she has her own sub-plot, involving a corrupt "probate guardian" (I think that's a subtitle mistranslation for parole or probation officer), which is much more interesting than the main story, but over rather quickly. This I think, properly scripted, would have made a much more rewarding film of about the standard 90 minute length.

And the libel case comes back at the very end, though bizarrely it seems to have nothing to do with the main story. True enough, life's generally not like that, and not everything is connected, but it is characteristic of the scriptwriter's complete absence of any sense of drama that this opportunity to create some dramatic unity is muffed.

The flashes of sexual violence, just about acceptably presented as would befit a television programme, are nothing more than a desperate attempt to inject some artificial edginess into this ditchwater dull plodding drama.

I saw this movie in Sydney, Australia and it was really great. A really good thriller!. I have read all three of the books and wondered how the movie would be. The theatre was packed and it was in subtitles but you could hear a pin drop. We were all glued to the screen. Once it gets going your are hooked! At the end everyone clapped. Some of the scenes are graphic and violent but if you have read the book you already know this. However, even though I had to "read" the movie I cant wait for the next one. At least I hope they are making a movie for book 2 and 3 I would not take my 14yr old to this but it is something I would see again. Highly recommend!

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.

This movie was more plot oriented than 2011 version(hollywood one).I've seen both and 2009 version is much better.I found 2009 version more gripping while i was not even finding Fincher's version interesting,it was too slow. Noomi Rapace easily played better lisbeth than rooney mara. Michael Blomkist actor was better than Daniel craig's version,because he seemed more genuine and original. Plot was great,so was the ending.

This is a grim and gritty tale lightened somewhat by an upbeat ending. Its origins as the first novel in the millennium series by Stieg Larrson is evident in a somewhat meandering storyline and a running time of two and a half hours, with the inevitable excisions from the book. Nevertheless the film stands up well on its own.

Sweden seems to produce detectives at the end of their tethers, "Wallander" for example, and the protagonist here, Mikael a journalist, starts out facing three months in jail for defaming a shonky business tycoon. I thought criminal defamation was a thing of the past, but not it seems in Sweden. Mikael has been set up, but the case has brought him to the notice of Henrick Vander, the patriarch of an old industrial family, who commissions Mikael to investigate the disappearance of his favourite niece, who disappeared from the family's island retreat nearly 40 years ago. Mikael joins forces with the tiny but intimidating Lisbeth, an ace computer hacker with a dark past and an agenda of her own.

They soon discover that the Vander family, except for their client who is a nice old gent, are as about a dysfunctional a family as you might ever meet, on a par with the Essenbecks of Visconti's "The Damned". There are skeletons everywhere, not just in the closet. However Mikael and Lisbeth crack the case, after the usual quota of menacing moments and dashing around chasing red herrings and actual clues. Filmed in the midst of a Swedish winter the atmosphere is pretty gloomy, not to mention just plain cold.

Michael Nyqvist inhabits the role of Mikael pretty comfortably, spending quite a lot of time looking surprised, but Nooni Rapace as Lisbeth is something else again – practically an elemental force – never was someone so vulnerable and so dangerous at the same time.

Nit-pickers will be delighted to learn that in a short sequence set in outback northern Australia, Mikael's FWD has the correct licence plates and its steering wheel on the right. However the lighting was most peculiar and the sheep a bit out of place – you mostly see cattle in northern Australia.

There are apparently two sequels in the pipeline, and despite some rather grisly moments I will line up to see them. Larrson, who died suddenly after producing three best-sellers, was a good storyteller and the film-makers have executed the adaptation with plenty of skill.

I basically enjoyed this film, as reflected in my rating but it is certainly flawed.

My preconception before watching the film, based upon the images of the main character, was that this was quite possibly a film that gets a lot of it's traction from the beauty of it's female star - dressed up in that Gothic she's-a-bit-disturbed kind of Matrix chic.

I was pleasantly surprised that the eponymous character does actually have some depth, and didn't have me groaning at tank grrrl clichés too often.

The film then heads off into what seem to me kind of interesting waters and is gearing up to be intelligent, well-paced, suspenseful and unconventional.

The problems arise when the film starts tying the mysteries up. The kind of devices that you would dismiss in a TV drama as being clichés, start surfacing with alarming regularity... It becomes more difficult to suspend your credibility... Things take on an increasingly BBC 2 Poirot kind of feel.

Then when you feel that the story has been told, the film continues for another unnecessary 20 minutes or so, most of that time spent spelling things out in a slightly patronising way..

The final scene seems well and truly out of place. People may say that "if you read the book it all makes sense"... Maybe, but this isn't the book, and the film needs to stand on it's own two feet.

So I would say this is half a good film, and half a late night TV murder mystery. Worth seeing but doesn't live up to the hype in my opinion.

This Swedish film is one of the best thrillers I've seen in a long time. Based on a best seller novel by Stieg Larsson I haven't read (the first in a trilogy), it starts with Mikael, a middle aged investigative journalist being asked by the old patriarch of a powerful business clan to solve the disappearance of his beloved 16 year old nephew forty years ago. Since this happened during a family reunion at an isolated island, the patriarch believes that she was murdered, and that only a member of the family could have done so. Mikael is soon joined in the investigation by Lisbeth Salander, a troubled but brilliant twenty something female hacker, and soon they are lifting the veil on the very dark secrets behind this prestigious family. Gripping throughout, the film benefits from a number of terrific performances, especially Noomi Rapace playing Lisbeth Salander and Sven Bertil Taube as the patriarch of the clan. While the film is more than two hours long, it is never boring, and all the loose ends are tied brilliantly at the end.

I'll start by saying that I've not read the book and am reserving judgement, but after squirming in my seat for around two and a half hours it's not looking good. In addition I usually find your mainstream thrillers and crime dramas gut rottingly dull.

What you get with this film is a clumsy crime thriller who's main protagonist is a dark, complex, but poorly drawn female. A good portion of the film is spent justifying her eccentricity in a series of gratuitous scenes where she is made to perform sexual acts. I understand the theme of men who hate women etc. My problem is that it seems to be saying the only reason someone could be like this is through some kind of abuse or tragedy. I find this sort of logic simplistic and annoying. The scenes themselves are a cheap way to get you to feel something for the character. That said Noomi Rapace does an excellent job considering the drivel she is given to work with - she almost manages to polish a turd. The acting from her supporting cast is clunky to say the least. No-one else really comes across as believable.

Enough said I'm not going to waste any more of my life on this howler. I advise you to do the same.