Review: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Well that was pretty good and I'm looking forward to II and III despite the reviews.
I agree with Kirsty, it's Lisbeth who does all the work and Mikael just fucks around looking confused, getting shot at and strung up. Doesn't strike me as that bright and I just didn't like him.

I saw this tonight and thought it was brutally brilliant, I was gripped the whole way through, despite the couple behind me who thought it suitable to eat bags of food and make out.

I thought the ending with Lisbeth made sense, she's a hacker, she could get all the necessary pass numbers and easily put herself into a position to walk away with what she did. (Vague enough? Although by now, surely only people who have seen the movie are reading these comments.)
I haven't read the book, but to me Lisbeth solves all the mysteries, even the Wennerstrom case. Mikael would have nothing without her!

Tough to watch in parts, but a rewarding conclusion and not who I had put my "CSI solving" money on.

I wouldn't recommend watching it with your Dad though. Really.

Without bothering to look, September and November I believe.

I didnt realise they had all been made already??

is there a release date for the 2nd and 3rd films?

The answer to a lot of those questions is I guess "Because it was in the book". And the book is excellent, really good stuff. Blomqvist goes to jail because he's supposed to be this infallible character and he's finally been caught out - unfairly so. He comes across a corrupt character in Wennerstrom so powerful that he can't be beaten within the conventional rules of the law, so effectively Blomqvist finds his limit as to what he can achieve.

When Vanger tells him what he has on Wennerstrom, that's why he goes to Hedestad and the murder plot begins. So it's kind of a bookend. In the book, he serves his prison sentence before the case is solved.

Apparently there was some controversy about Lispeth's flashbacks, in that the director wanted to put them in at the end because he thought the other two films wouldn't get made. No one else wanted to do it, but they comprimised and put in a flashback. I'm halfway through book II and I still haven't come across the 'incident'.

And the guardian, Bjurman, plays a much bigger role in the second book. He's kind of a great character too. He's another character who reinforces Lispeth's life views - there are too many scumbags out there who are taking advantage of people.

I think I prefer the original Swedish title: Men Who Hate Women.

Couple of things I didn't get.
Why the flashbacks for Lisbeth? They added nothing much to the story, perhaps expanded upon in the other 2 films.
And the pyschiatrist/social worker, again for Lisbeth, had no purpose. Served no plot driving except for what felt like voyeurism and uncomfortable exploitation.
Maybe it was showing her character's willingness to seek revenge on anybody who wrongs her, I don't know. The guy just wandered into the film, did his thing and then nothing more was spoken about him or the consequence ever again.
Most odd.

I've got the other 2 films in the series - same actors/characters to watch yet so maybe there's an over-arcing story that would give a bit more meat to the bones in this film.
Good film, but felt a little sparse and a few plot holes left dangling even with the myriad of endings.
* just what was the point of Lisbeth showing up in the Caymans at the end? How was she involved in the whole business sideplot that played no part in the film*

As much as I enjoyed it, there was just a few too many plots left dangling and issues that were raised and then completely unaddressed.
Why was Reporter being sent to prison? Ok, so he lost a libel case against Mr Big Business. I get that. But then nothing more is said about this until the very end, when suddenly you get a "Oh yeah, and this happened. Remember that? It was the bit at the start? Well here's the denoument, even though it's never been discussed since the start"

3/5

Ah yes, I'm with you on the odd casting now, you're right.

But I would say that this is probbaly one of my favourite films of the year so far, definitely one of the best surprises anyway. Looking forward to the other two films, just finished reading the first book (Ali rule = film first, then book) and it's quite faithful, hoping I can finish both books before the next film comes out.

The odd casting? Curious people, don't read this spoiler, because it ruins the whole film...

*I meant the woman who played Harriet at the end looked nothing like the younger girl in the photo. She looked very mannish. Just took me out of the moment a little.*

What an incredible film, the murder mystery genre has been done to death, pardon the pun, but this breathes new life into it. Instead of the traditional maverick cop trying to crack the case you've got two totally unconventional leads thrown together and they're both fascinating characters. It doesn't do much for your faith in mankind, it's pretty brutal.
What did you mean about the odd casting at the end Ali? It didn't jump out at me. Can't wait for the next installment.