Well, not spoilers, really, since I saw the movie when it was in theatres in the US. But I saw the American version on cable last night, and my mind is gnawing at what I think are discrepancies. (I have no problem with discrepancies. I just can’t help wondering if they really are differences, or if my middle-aged mind is forgetting things.)
Anyway,
I don’t remember Mikael having a daughter. Or at least, I don’t remember her appearing onscreen.
In the American version, Lisbeth has two visits with the new social worker — one in his office (BJ), one in his apartment (rape and secret videoing). The third time she sees him, again in his apartment, is to deliver her revenge. In my memories of the Swedish movie, his abuse of her was more of an ongoing thing before she took matters into her own hands. I guess that’s not in character, though, so maybe I’m wrong.
I remember Mikael finding the torture chamber on his own, not being taken to it by Martin.
I don’t remember Lisbeth saving Mikael, but I guess she had to, because he was alive at the end of the movie.
The Swedish movie ended with Lisbeth, blonde, made-up, and well-dressed, in someplace warm—Rio, I think. I got the impression she was escaping from her life, and wondered how or if she would end up back in Sweden for the sequels. In the American movie, she adopts the blonde, made-up, well-dressed character in order to destroy Industrialist Guy Who Sued Mikael. After a week or so, her job done, she drops it and returns to Sweden. My question on this one is, did we know that was what she was doing in the Swedish version and I just missed it?
There are probably others that I’ve forgotten. If there’s a big difference between the two versions that I haven’t mentioned, feel free to fill me in.
I could be wrong about some of these, and I hope someone will correct me if so.
Mikael’s daughter was in the book and the American version, but you’re right, she was left out of the Swedish version (at least, the theatrical version we saw in the US). So, Book & American.
The American version was pretty much the same in the Book and the Swedish version. Those 3 incidents were all that happened and were all shown. Book, Swedish, American.
I think it was the same, but there are niggling doubts. I saw the Swedish version 5 times, but it has been a long time since I’ve seen it. Book, Swedish(?), American. (Edit, I mean, I believe Martin took him down there in all three. He didn’t find the torture chamber on his own.)
Oh yeah, same in all three. Book, Swedish, American. (Edit, how Martin died is, I think, different in all three)
Yes, you missed it. In the Swedish version there was a Wennerstrom-related news report about how billions of his kroner were missing, tied to a mysterious woman, and Mikael was watching the report on TV. He saw a somewhat grainy security camera still picture of the blonde woman that the TV was showing and recognized it as Lisbeth wearing a wig.
One minor difference with #2 is that in the American version, it’s implied that she’s formally checking in with her old advocate when she discovers he’s had his stroke and then the BJ visit is her first visit to the new one. In the books (and IIRC the Swedish movies), her old advocate is retired and she’s just visiting him as a friend when he has his stroke. She’d been going to the new one for a while without incident, other than her grumbling about his tighter control of her finances.
Also, (possible spoiler for the sequels):
[Spoiler]I don’t fully recall the whole convoluted conspiracy plot in the sequels, but I seem to recall that the new advocate guy was actually one of the conspirators’ cronies and that both his assignment to Lisbeth and his change in demeanor from bored neglect to active sadism were the result of orders from up high.
That was a pretty minor point in the books that I don’t think made it into the movies, though.
[/spoiler]
In the books, Lisbeth spends a year away from Sweden (following Dragon Tattoo), in Europe and the Caribbean. She also gets a breast enhancement, as I recall. I wondered how they would manage that in the movies.
I’ve watched both movies in the past week, so the differences between what the two versions chose to include is quite apparent, and sometimes puzzling. I believe the whole thing with the daughter giving him the clue about the Bible verses was in the book, and having watched the Swedish version second, I was surprised they never mentioned her. Plus they totally underplayed his relationship with Ericka (?) in the Swedish version, with just the moment of tenderness filmed on the street by Lisbeth, whereas is in the book and the American version, his sexual relationship with her was a huge point, and made the relationship with Lisbeth more complicated.
I thought in the book Mikael found the torture chamber, but I’d have to reread to be sure. But it definitely was Lisbeth who saved him and chased Martin to his death.
I also thought the American version did a better job showing the relationship with her boss and her first guardian, and the Swedish version did better with “where the missing girl actually was”.
I preferred the way the American version handled the whole “stealing Wennerstrom’s money while setting him up for exposure” rather than the one spare scene in the Swedish version.
And I want to go on record that I found Daniel Craig to be better casting of Mikael, because at least you could believe he would have to be beating the women off with a stick as he did in the book. The Swedish actor…not so much.
One minor nitpick about both movies…these people live in a very cold place…why was practically no one dressed appropriately for the weather? Both Mikaels were wandering around in clearly too thin coats and no hat!
She didn’t chase him to his death in the other two?
That rings a bell now. Thanks!
Was she not in London pretending to be her sister (cousin?) in the Swedish version? Or do you mean the way it was revealed was better?
I agree on both points. Also, it was also the first time I’ve seen Craig in anything other than a Bond movie or Saturday Night Live. I thought he was really good.
I noticed that, too. Mikael appeared not to own a pair of gloves. I just figured that people who grow up in a cold area are more tolerant of it. (My wife, who grew up in south Florida, sets the thermostat much higher and bundles up more to go out than I, who grew up in the Northeast, do.)
ETA: I just realized how lame “I thought he was really good” sounds. Let’s go with, “I was very impressed by his performance” instead.
No, in the books and Swedish movies she was living on a sheep ranch in Australia, although there was still the backstory of her having used documents with her sister/cousin’s (I don’t remember either) maiden name to get out of the country.
Weren’t both movies filmed in Sweden? I’d say, particularly for the Swedish version, they probably got it right. Stockholm has a milder climate than you might expect, which is probably why they show him wandering around fairly comfortably in the city but then freezing cold when he goes to the colder area where the Vanger estate is located.