Noomi Rapace & Michael Nyqvist in 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' (2009) Yellow Bird, Nordisk Film
To say that Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a gripping crime thriller really barely scratches the surface of what is really a sweeping work of fiction that delivers an eye-opening look at how wealth and immorality corrupts and destroys a prominent family while at the same time condemning certain aspects of modern Swedish society.
Helmed by the relatively unknown Danish director Niels Arden Oplev, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo really does have it all―sex, violence, marital infidelity, political intrigue, corporate corruption and of course numerous references to Sweden’s brief WWII experiment with Nazism.
The Girl with the Dragon is based on Stieg Larsson’s wildly popular “Millennium series” of novels which were released shortly after his death in 2004.
All three novels in the series (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, (The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest) dissect the underbelly of 21st century Swedish society while the stark beauty of the Sweden’s countryside provides a naturally dramatic backdrop.
In The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) is an investigative journalist who loses a libel case involving a wealthy but corrupt businessman named Hans-Erik Wennerström (Stefan Sauk).
Despite being sentenced to three months in prison and ordered to pay thousands in damages, Blomkvist is hired by Henrik Vanger, the former CEO of Vanger Corporation, to investigate the disappearance of his great-niece Harriet.
Because Harriet has been gone so long, Henrik rationalizes that Harriet was murdered yet each year on his birthday he receives gifts of pressed flowers leading him to suspect that either it’s a joke from the killer or Harriet is still alive.
It’s no secret that Henrik deeply despises his family which only further muddies the waters of potential suspects.
“For all intensive purposes the Vanger family was made up of a thoroughly unpleasant bunch and there was a mutual hatred among us,” Vanger tells Mikael.
Girl takes place around Christmas time but there is anything but cheer and tidings of joy.
Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) is a surveillance agent/computer hacker initially hired by Vanger’s lawyer to investigate Blomkvist but she believes Mikael has been set up and eventually is arm-twisted into joining his investigation into Harriet’s disappearance.
Rapace’s portrayal of the rakish, antisocial Lisbeth is brutally ice-cold yet brilliantly believable and consistent throughout the entire 152-minute film.
When Lisbeth is assaulted by a group of thugs in the subway, she manages to fight them off with a broken bottle.
And when her guardian/probation officer Nils Bjurman (Peter Andersson) threatens to withhold money from her unless she performs sexual favors, she frames him by secretly videotaping her own rape.
Peter Andersson & Noomi Rapace (2009) Yellow Bird, Nordisk Film
Like most modern films, product placement rears its ugly head in the form of prominent placement of Apple laptops.
But that’s not really as annoying as how it seems every time a computer is hacked, the screen displays “ACCESS GRANTED” as if that needs to be spelled out every time.
Still, Girl has returned nearly $105 million in box office which might explain why American production companies caught a whiff and decided to remake a 2011 version directed by David Fincher and starring the latest “Bond” muse Daniel Craig.
I’m also not sure how Daniel Craig, more known for his action roles, will come across as an investigative journalist although he does have an uncanny resemblance to Michael Nyqvist.
What really sets the Swedish version apart from its inevitable American clone is that in this version, the music and dialog are consistent throughout the film.
Absent is the typical American penchant whereby inaudible dialogue is followed by ear-shattering audio simply for dramatic emphasis.
The astonishing climax is reached through steady and surefooted building of plot points in a way any adult would appreciate because the editing in Girl is methodical and mature without being boring.
Early theatrical promotions for the David Fincher-helmed Girl made it seem like the film would be the next great MTV music video rather than a high-quality dramatic thriller which this film is supposed to be.
It is said that imitation is the best form of flattery but in this case you’re probably better off seeing the original.—Steve Santiago
4th Dimension Films 