Review: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

People in the Movie:  Noomi Rapace, Michael Nyqvist

Director:  Niels Arden Oplev  

Pigeonhole:  Thriller / Mystery

The Basics: A Swedish film based on the popular book by Steig Larsson.   Mikael Blomkvist (Nyqvist) is a journalist/publisher who is tasked by 82 year old Henrik Vanger (Sven-Bertil Taube) with investigating the disappearance of his grand-niece Harriet in 1966.  Vanger believes she was murdered by a family member, and is basically seeking the truth about what happened (before he dies, specifically).  With the assistance of a highly intelligent computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Rapace), she and Blomkvist piece together a decades old mystery revealing many hidden secrets.

Recommendation: I highly recommend this film, and it is one of the best films of the 2000’s, to date.  ‘R’ rating is for graphic violence, rape, nudity, sexuality, and language.      

My Take:  This is yet another example of why foreign films, in my opinion, are better than most American films.  Foreign producers and directors will put any element into a film and not be scared of it.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a violent film, but that element is used in a matter-of-fact way, and by that I mean it depicts violent acts that exist in the “real world”, and this film does not glorify or justify it, as is often seen in its American counter-parts.  Rapace portrayed such a believable character on screen; you could almost literally feel her pain, hate, and anger blistering through the camera lens.

**spoiler alert** Beyond the great actors, the film is driven by an excellent detective style story.  The back stories for both Mikael and Lisbeth are done in such a way as to connect you to them.  To open the movie Mikael has lost a libel case involving a corrupt Swedish businessman that he had reported on in his publication Millennium.  He is ordered to pay a large fine and go to jail for a short term.  Mikael seems ok with this; his reporting on the matter was the truth.   Lisbeth is a thin, boyish looking, pierced, tattooed, black leather wearing young lady with jet black hair.  She is currently under a court ordered guardianship dating back to a criminal act as a child (we later learn this was setting fire to her abusive father).  Her current guardian suffers a stroke and her new guardian very soon after their first meeting attacks and rapes her.  However, Lisbeth returns this act with one of her own; she zaps him with a stun gun, sodomizes him with an implement, and tattoos on his stomach that he is a sadist, rapist pig.  She also shows him a video of his attack on her (she had hidden a video camera in her bag the day of the attack) and she will reveal this to the authorities if he makes any future move against her.  

The mystery surrounding Harriet kicks open a door into the lives of a wealthy, secretive, highly dysfunctional Vanger family that, among other things, were Nazi collaborators.  While Mikael and Lisbeth piece together the fateful day of Harriet’s disappearance with old pictures, interviews, and internet research, they discover her case may also be linked to series of brutal unsolved murders that reach back just as far back.  A serial killer is discovered, and Mikael almost dies at his hands, however, Lisbeth not only rescues him, but she chases down the murderer who in turn dies crashing his car in his attempt to escape. 

Mikael is later able to track down Harriet who is still alive.  She had escaped to Australia after being attacked; she was in fear for her life, and she is able to reunite with Henrik.  The film concludes as Mikael preparing to serve his jail term, he receives information from Lisbeth backing up his writing about the corruption case.

The cinematography creates a great visual environment, and the music plays well with the ongoing scenes.  Lisbeth develops to an exceptional on screen heroine.   Her glare and appearance only add to how she seems to draw power from all the bad things that have happened to her.  All in all, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is a great film that will stand the test of time, and will carve a niche in film history.         

Final Thought/Extras/For Fun:  The title of the book in Swedish translates to: Men Who Hate Women… This is first story of the ‘Millennium Series’, followed by The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked a Hornet’s Nest… American versions of the films are forthcoming, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo opening 12/20/11…