The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Before I write anything about the film itself...I would like to add a disclaimer for all the many people who have been on the edge of their seats waiting for my next post.  The first is that I have never read the book that the film is based on.  I also have never read any of the sequels either.  To be even more honest, I have not even seen the critically acclaimed (such a cliché phrase imo, but whatever) Swedish films based on the books either.  So it is safe to say that I am as close to objectively viewing this film as one could be without ever having seen another murder mystery film to compare this one to.  With all that being said I hope to see you at the end of this 'review' in a few minutes...have fun :)

If you are thinking about seeing this film then there are a few things you should know right off the bat.  One of them is that at some times this movie will do a number on your ability to keep your food down.  The second is that there are some scenes in the film which will still be confusing even by the end of the film.  The third is that the running time for the film is rather long compared to the other films in theaters these days.  The forth and most important is that a lot of the dialogue is spoken with heavy foreign accents.  I guess this makes sense since the majority of the film takes place in Sweden, but it makes some of the more confusing scenes even more difficult to comprehend.


After reading all of that I want to make sure you understand one thing before you decide which movie you are going to head to watch...the movie is the best movie I have seen all year.  The film stars Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara and the two are about as far from compatible as one could imagine but somehow it works.  I can't explain why black looks good next to white but sometimes it makes something beautiful, like a zebra or 95% of the film 'A Nightmare Before Christmas'.  Kidding aside, I want to explain why I simply loved this movie even though it had it's slight flaws.

There is a scene early on in the film where Craig's character, Mikael Blomkvist, is first intrigued by the murder mystery that plagues the majority of the film.  The manner in which the details are revealed to him make him all but forget about his "4:30 train" back home and stay focused on the facts of this mysterious disappearance.  Why is this one of the best scenes of the film?  Well it is really quite simple.  The moment when the main character first becomes dedicated to this mission the audience is also drawn in as well.  I haven't sat and watched a movie with such focus in so long.  I was constantly trying to figure what was really going on and who were the more suspicious characters.  I found myself pointing fingers and different people in almost every scene.

I would like to note that the movie does something else that simply blew my mind.  It offered a plot twist in a film that borrowed heavily from other films and summed them up together in a way that made its parts almost unrecognizable.  I will label this moment as the 'Orinoco Flow' scene.  Something combined out of scenes from Silence of the Lambs, American Psycho, Se7en and Reservoir Dogs is what an amateur critic such as myself would most appropriately label it.  It was sick, twisted, and great entertainment.

I realized the further I got into writing about this film the less I could say without spoiling the film.  So if you are one of my avid fans and have read my posts before then you know that I usually leave a line or two at the end that sum up everything I have said thus far.  Here is what I have for you - Go See this Movie!  Bring a friend, go on a slightly empty stomach so that by the time certain scenes arise your food is too far down to come back up, and make sure you give this film an honest chance.  Try not to judge the film like my mom judged my immense amount of time playing video games...if she had known now that...okay bad example.  Just give the film a chance...trust me, you will enjoy it!

Notable Mentions:
- Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgård, and Joely Richardson all played remarkable supporting roles.  Some of which I will not soon forget.
- The opening sequence was definitely the most intriguing of the year. (Immigrant Song - Remix byTrent Reznor and Karen O-Sung)
- The original title of the book which the film is based on is 'Men Who Hate Women'
- Stieg Larsson, the author of the book which inspired the film, never lived to see any of his 'Millenium Trilogy' books published. (The name for 'The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo' Series)