The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo / Millénium : Les Hommes qui n'aimaient pas les femmés (Bilingual)

A disgraced financial journalist, and a young antisocial computer hacker join forces to solve the 40 year old mystery of a teenage girl's disappearance. As they do so, they get drawn into serious crime and corruption, deadly family secrets, and a string of unsolved murders of young women spanning fifty years, which puts their own lives at unbelievable risk. Will they solve the mystery before they become history?

When I saw the original movie series about two years ago, I was awestruck by mostly the awesome acting of Noomi rapace, and the movie's visual style, and it's inherent raunchiness, which is more common in stylish European thrillers than slick Hollywood movies. When I heard there would be an English version, I thought this would be a hard act to follow, and without Noomi Rapace as the female lead would not be the same, because she was so much an integral element of the original movies success.

In the meantime I listened to the audiobook version featuring Simon Vance, which I also found quite enjoyable. He does all the voices including Lisbeth with a slight Swedish accent that veers toward cockney. The story is much more detailed with many elements glossed over or left out of the original movie.

So, when I heard it was about to be released, and saw the trailer, and understood the pedigree behind this movie with David Fincher directing, and Daniel Craig as Blomquist, I made a point of going to the evening show before its official opening today.

Inevitably, one cannot help but compare with the previous experience. Definitely, the fact that this is in English is the greatest justification for the remake, so for many people who are distracted by subtitles this will automatically be a better experience.

Steven Zaillian, the screenwriter, previously won an Oscar for writing Schindlers List. From a storytelling point of view, it stays close to the original story, with much more detail, in that respect exceeding the original. In other respects too it exceeds the original. I particularly liked for example the soundtrack with its darker gothic metal tones by Trent Reznor, and the opening somewhat James Bond style imagery although darker, and I loved the storytelling.

This movie completes the full arc of the story, whereas I felt unclear in the original about the full circle story against Wennerstrom. This movie introduces the cat, and Cecilia Vanger as a character. We get to meet some of the characters we don't meet in the original.

David Fincher goes to great lengths not to have it be a remake, having each scene be somewhat different. This movie is also raunchier, you'll know what I mean when you see it and focuses more on the relationship between Blomquist and Salander. It also has occasional humor. The scene where Michael is hunted shocked me in my seat, and there are several shocking scenes in the movie, including the crime against Lisabeth by her guardian. This is a harrowing scene as is the basement scene, although I felt that particular one was more harrowing in the original.

Perhaps the single best thing about this version is that it captures the intention of the original author. Apparently, when Stieg Larson was a teenager he witnessed a gang rape of a teenage girl, and did not intervene to stop it. He was always troubled by this, second guessing his behavior, and worked as an independent investigative journalist, and this was partly his motivation for writing the Millenium Trilogy series which has now reportedly sold over 60 million copies, and the great visual art of 4 movies.

In fact, he gave the character Lisbeth the same first name as the original victim, so when Blomquist proposes to Lisbeth that she help him find a killer of women, one senses that Larson would be very pleased about this.

I liked also seeing Robin Wright as Blomquists partner, and while I still give the original movie the cool points for style and the visuals, I think many people will without my preconceptions warm to Rooney Mara who does give a great performance, in her unique way as this antisocial yet extremely resourceful and intelligent computer hacker.

I recommend it whether or not you have seen the original series. I also recommend you do check out the original series. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (DVD + Blu-ray Combo)

If they do complete the rest of the trilogy, there will be opportunities in those movies to vastly outshine the originals, certainly if they include more detail from the books as they do here. I think you will love it, and I hope this review was helpful.

David Fincher is one of the less commercial directors in recent years. Even though he has a style all his own, themes he visits often and actors he uses time and again. After Social Network, he was approached to direct the remake for the popular phenomenon that is Stieg Larsson's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Rooney Mara, an up and coming actress who was given a small role in Social Network, truly gave a heart-breaking performance with her take on the Lisbeth Salander character. I have yet to watch the original Swedish movies, but Mara's transformation from Social Network to Dragon Tattoo was nothing less than a shock. These two women couldn't be further apart from each other and that is what I believe makes a great actress.

Dragon Tattoo deals with a lot of hard themes: it's violent, dark, repulsive, hypocrit, and many other things. It is a portrait of our 21st Century society at its best. Believe me when I say this adaptation is NOT for the faint of hearts. Myself, I almost gave up during a particular scene because I couldn't bare what I saw shown, forced to watch. Fincher doesn't screw around and uses his skills as a storyteller to sympathize with Lisbeth as she follows her slow and steady descent into Hell... until she meets Mikael Blomkvist, a down on his luck journalist who got his reputation tarnished. These two imperfect and broken souls meet and work on a 40 year-old unresolved case.

I'm not going to say more about the plot. I will say this though: if David Fincher wanted to grab me, his introduction credits and "The Immigrant" song remix truly mesmerized me... mislead me, would be another way to see it, for this very James Bond-ish beginning is as far as the rest of the film could be... one could also think of it as Lisbeth Salander's own private darkness and how she melts clues together, giving us an insight on her gift, her curse of seeing what others don't. Fincher's directing here is top-notch. If Social Network, Zodiac and Benjamin Button were any indication, it was to point out how unique his work stands apart from the rest.

As great a narrator Fincher has become over the years, his twisted sense brings much to the table where other remakes would shy away from: depicting a society bent on destructing its opponents, having the action happen in the same country as the books, not holding on the violence (it has its narrative purpose), A-list actors all the way, dark and moody atmosphere, a soundtrack as amazing as The Social Network's, etc.

Why should one watch this film and not the originals? I couldn't help you since I have yet to see the originals myself. Although I will suggest you consider this one as a disturbing take on the same novel. I believe we should look at this Dragon Tattoo as Fincher's film, not a studio's money-making decision. True, it IS the motivation behind the film's existence, but Fincher's talent and the results speak for themselves: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is a Davind Fincher film and I couldn't be happier about it... were it made by a lesser director, I don't think I would have had the same statement because the material is very specific and I don't think someone like, say, J.J. Abrams (Super 8) could have pulled it off the same way. I'm not saying Abrams doesn't have the talent, only that his style is very different from Larsson's writings.

For great remakes, one must have a great screenplay, a great director and great actors. Luckily, David Fincher's film has it all.Girl with the Dragon Tattoo [Blu-ray]

First of all this was one of the best movies of 2011.Equal to the swedish version on all counts.Cannot believe some people actually returned this movie thinking that the "DVD" included was just an ordinary DVD-R. It was obviously part of the marketing,(she was a hacker).IT ACTUALLY SAYS ON THE DISC-DVD VIDEO RATED R -RESTRICTED.Some people need to smarten up!