I thought it was fantastic, though thoroughly disturbing. The script, the acting, the directing, the score… I could see this making a showing at the Oscars. And apparently it’s the first of a trilogy, all three of which have already been released in Europe.
It’s funny, I e-mailed someone early on Saturday and asked if she was doing anything fun for the weekend. I mentioned that I was going to the movies that night. She misinterpreted that as me asking for a date. I’m so glad she turned me down. (I wouldn’t have taken her anyway.)
The novel on which the movie was based was the first in a trilogy of novels. Two of these novels have already been published, and the third is published in April this year. The English titles for these novels are ‘The girl with the dragon tattoo’, ‘The girl who played with fire’ and ‘The girl who kicked the hornet’s nest’. These English titles do not necessarily match the original Swedish titles. For example, the Swedish title of the first novel more accurately translates as ‘Men who hate women’.
So far, the only movie has been the Swedish adaptation of the first book, but a ‘Hollywood’ version is slated for release in 2012.
I thought the movie was very good, with assured direction and great performances all round. It’s not exactly an ‘enjoyable’ film, given the subject matter and the fact that it features so much strong violence and brutality, but it is a very satisfying one, with very engaging characters and a compelling plot.
I’ve read the first book and seen the trailer for the movie. I hope the movie is as good without so much- redundancy- of the book. The protagonist drank so much coffee it is a wonder he ever slept…
Read great reviews on the books. Started reading the first one today. Unfortunately, there will be no more works from this novelist. He died shortly after submitting the third book. He was only 50.
Saw the movie, didn’t read the book, but my wife did. She was impressed by the adaptation, as she could clearly see what they kept and what they threw out and how it affected the overall story arch.
I really enjoyed the movie, very strong direction, good acting - I predict an Oscar nomination for Noomi Rapace (Lisbeth) for Best Supporting Actress (at least - potential Best Actress). The character was very original and she was spot on in her performance.
Also predict Adapted Screenplay nomination.
I can’t wait to see the other two in the series, and how Hollywood butchers their version of it.
Well no, not really on any level. All three novels have been out for years, all of the Swedish movies have long been in release in Europe. **Män som hatar kvinnor **(Men Who Hate Women or The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo) is the biggest grossing Scandinavian movie ever. Flickan som lekte med elden (The Girl Who Played with Fire) is not as good. I haven’t watched Luftslottet som sprängdes (Pipe Dreams That Have Exploded or The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest) yet but it was out late last year.
Regarding the films having being “released in Europe”, this isn’t exactly true for all of Europe. Here in Sweden all three films have been out long enough to be available on DVD, but in the UK the first film has only just hit the cinemas.
The third book is also available as an English translation in the UK. I bought it for my Dad for Christmas (he got the previous two for his birthday in July).
If I am reading the Academy Award rules correctly (here) then it looks like it will be eligible for the regular awards but not for the Best Foreign Language Film award.
For the awards this last March, the eligibility for Foreign Language (Rule 14) was that it had to be released in its original country between October 1, 2008 and September 30, 2009. According to IMDb, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was released in February 2009 which means it’s eligibility has passed and it would have had to have been submitted by Sweden for this last awards.
However, for the other awards, the release requirements for a foreign film (Rule 3) was that it have been released after January 1, 2008 and have a qualifying LA run in 2009 . So advancing that a year for next year’s awards would still include it.
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I thought it was an interesting adaptation of the book, which I was pretty tepid on (the first half of the book is pretty dry and boring, then it gets exciting, then the main mystery has the obvious resolution. The movie streamlines it quite a bit while keeping all the important beats.
I felt bad at one point, though, because during a very intense scene a woman seated near us suddenly rushed from the theater and I’m pretty sure it was because it was hitting too close to home (she did come back after it was over).
I saw this movie last weekend, and was really glad that I’d read the book beforehand - actually, both books, as Lisbeth’s past is explored in …Played with Fire. I think I would have had a difficult time following the story had I not.
I do think it was a well-made movie, telling rather horrible stories. I liked how Swedish it was, although I did fall into the same trap as I always do with subtitled films - listening to the cool other language instead of following the story.