They mentioned in the film that they were phone numbers. And one of the numbers had a person who lived there with those initials. One them was active but no person with those initials lived there and the rest were not valid numbers. So instead of realizing that the “matches” were flukes they didn’t look to any other possible meaning to the numbers.
Yes I know Swedes have a different view of casual nudity. But only Lisbeth had that. No other character in the film did it. Only her.
An interesting Hollywood Reporter interview on the making of The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo
Just a final tally - looks like the film will make money.
As per the Hollywood Reporter today:
“Dragon Tattoo, directed by David Fincher, grossed $3.8 million for the weekend for a domestic cume of $94.8 million. Overseas, it has now earned $70.8 million for a global total of $165.5 million. Box office observers believe the film could ultimately earn $300 million globally.”
It’ll break 100 million domestic no problem, especially if it gets a few Oscar nominations on Tuesday morning. I’m not expecting it to get a Best Picture nomination but it could happen. I’m hoping Rooney Mara gets a Best Actress nomination if nothing else, and I’d love to see Trent Reznor’s score recognized. Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay are slight possibilities. We’ll see.
Speaking of Rooney Mara - I had no idea she came from a rather wealthy family of football owners/managers etc.
Not that this makes any difference, but interesting to note she was not the wayward, struggling actress who needed a job to avoid homelessness.
Here’s Cracked’s humorous and slightly cruel take on the movie.
As a diehard Giants fan I am hopelessly in love with both Mara sisters. (Older sister Kate.)
You undersold the family, by the way. They are (great) grandchildren of the founders of two of the most storied franchises in the NFL. The Maras founded and still co-own the New York Giants, while the Rooneys founded and still own the Pittsburgh Steelers. Thus the name Rooney Mara.
Kate was asked in an interview if her costars knew who her family was, and she said not always. If asked about football she just says she’s a Giants fan, but her mom is a Steelers fan. heh.
Saw the movie over the holidays. Went in aware of the book but not much about it. Haven’t seen the Swedish versions. So I wasn’t totally prepared for what went down. I was expecting the uplifting story of the Dragon with the Girl Tattoo. 
I enjoyed the movie. Well, not the rape or violence, but the overall story. It was a bit confusing in places, but by the end it had filled in the details enough that I could make sense of it all.
I liked the opening sequence.
To me, it was a little odd that they essentially had two plot lines to address. One, the one that took the bulk of the movie, was the murder mystery plot. The second was simple enough as an impetus to put Mikal in the circumstance to investigate, but was a bit out of place to go back and address at the end. Almost seems like that could have been a separate movie. They did a reasonable job making it a montage and having it resolve that element, so Lisbet is clear of that situation and free to do whatever she wants next. So that does in some way tie to the overall story.
That kind of pacing is not typical of films because you have this dramatic climax, and then the denouemont runs out so long it’s anticlimactic. I don’t think it could have been sequenced differently, though, because it wouldn’t make sense for her to be spending time actively working that separate issue when the pace of events on their murder investigation is going pretty fast. If their investigation was dragging out longer, it could seem reasonable she would find time to do both in parallel, but it didn’t feel like she had time to split her efforts, and needed to concentrate on the missing girl. Ergo, she has to accomplish the whole banking escapade afterwards.
The appeal isn’t the violence that occurs, it’s the overall story, the character development, and the way Lisbet retakes control.
[quote=“CrazyCatLady, post:17, topic:606951”]
I disagree. It is an essential element of the character of Lisbet, and is entangled with the theme of the movie. You think this is the first time she was raped? It’s hinted but not quite stated when she says
she set her father on fire, which is what got her committed to the psych ward in the first place and why she’s a 22 year old ward of the state.
It’s why she’s so fucked up, part of why her aesthetic is so graphic and extreme. She does that as much to project an appearance of “Don’t fuck with me” as a personal sense of fashion.
Plus, after the blowjob, she saw the writing on the wall and used it to her advantage to get the upper hand on the guy. As she said, she underestimated him. But she got revenge in spades. He had the power over her, she had no reputation and no credibility, which is why he expected to be able to get away with it. So she turned it on its head and took all the power away from him, and made him live in fear.
It definitely was uncomfortable to watch.
Gah! You put a spoiler for the later stories in with a reveal from this movie! Don’t do that! Or at least give a warning!
This seemed a little out of place. She’s very self-protective, and it just seems to happen. Someone tries to kill him, so she decides he needs sex. 
But their sex does not seem unfun or unpleasant, it is totally a shared experience. Maybe she even gets him
to give more cunnilingus.
Her relationship with Mikal did seem to be positive, fun, and emotionally-equal with an enthusiastic partner. He just eventually went back to his long term girlfriend, and she learned that even decent men can be jerks.
Plus, he didn’t force or manipulate the relationship in any way. She chose it.
I’m generally pretty oblivious unless they name-check these things. I am used to seeing people owning computers, cars, coffee, etc and using computers going to actual websites that exist that that kind of placement is subtle and invisible to me. Unless they say
“Hey, Bob, how do you like my new Ford Focus?”
“Wow, great Ford Focus, it really is the best in Texas.”
“Yeah, you should get a Ford Focus for yourself.”
I don’t usually notice. So what if you can see the computer has an Apple logo? Computers have logos on them. So what if the coffee is from Starbucks, and you can see the logo? Starbucks are everywhere, and they have logos all over them.
In the movie, they explain
the girl was smuggled out by her cousin. She used her cousin’s fiance’s last name and the cousin used her own last name, then swapped IDs after reaching England. So there were two identities established for Anita - Anita took one and Henrietta lived under the other. Eventually Anita died before this film occurs.
Did not observe that.
Forgot to mention…
Yes, it is not clear in the movie that they have a longstanding comfortable casual relationship. It appears like an abrupt, no emotional attachment hookup. But that certainly makes a little more sense for the part where
Mikael shows up at Lisbet’s door to meet, and Miriam offers to stay. I still sort of processed it as “Hey there’s this strange man here, and while you may not know me well, I’m at least an independent third party, and another woman.” It worked okay, but having them actually know each other gives that a slightly different subtext.
Also, I did not see any ninja skills in evidence.
[spoiler]The first attack by the robber on the subway, yes she wins the scuffle, but it’s very much a scuffle, she wins mostly by sheer rage and not any real ability, and her computer gets broken in the process. No mad ninja skills there.
Then when she is attacked by the “gaurdian”, he grabs her and chokes her out pretty easily, she doesn’t get much of a fight in. When she gets her revenge she uses surprise and a taser, not ninja fighting skills.
For the climax scene, she sneaks in from behind and clubs the guy in the head with a golf club. Then she chases him down with her motorcycle and causes him to have a car accident. Not really ninja skills there. The sneaking part was acceptable, but a ninja would have been far more effective with that golf club. [/spoiler]
Sure, she’s something of an extraordinary person, but that’s fairly common in books/movies for the hero. Her talent is being very intelligent and having mad computer skills. She’s socially distant because of her fucked up childhood, she’s athletically not particularly special but knows how to ride a motorcycle well. I’d say it’s reasonably balanced for a hero.
Bumped.
Just saw the Fincher movie for a second time, and was impressed all over again. A powerful, scary and stylish film. I’ve read the first book, and have seen all three of the Swedish movies. I prefer this movie to any of the three. It has a better cast - although Rapace was good, I much preferred Mara’s interpretation of the Lisbeth role; Craig is much, much better than the Swedish actor who played Mikael, IMHO; and it’s Christopher Plummer’s best role in many years - to say nothing of significantly better production values and cinematography. The violence is graphic but appropriate to the story. The sunny, washed-out 1966 scenes, the bleak, wintry Swedish landscapes and the undercurrent of dread and danger are a potent mix. The opening credits were overdone, kind of like a CGI Goth music video I thought, but that’s a minor quibble.
Looks like we’ll have a sequel (or two), although without either Fincher, Mara or Craig: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011 film) - Wikipedia
I still prefer the original movie trilogy, slamming it all into a single movie sucked - the changed a lot of detailing. NOw if I could mix and match actors and keep the original movie trilogy [and get it in ENglish] that would be great. But until CGI lets one shove a novel in one end, name the virtual actors and get a CGI ‘Beowulf’ out the other end, not happening.
The Fincher movie covered hardly any of the ground of the second and third Swedish movies, I thought.
No, it didn’t. It ended where the book did.
What about these sequels written by Lagerkrantz? Any word on if they’re any good?
