Review of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009) by Andrew F — 29 Jan 2017

Can't I edit my reviews? This trilogy is utterly preposterous junk, but it is not impossible to get into it for the fun of it, as long as you don't take any of it seriously. It's like James Bond meets Silence of the Lambs meets Germaine Greer as portrayed by South Park.

[old review follows:] Watching this made me angry enough to write this review: Disaster! - we have a frame story about an arms dealer being investigated. Then the journalist sentenced to prison gets 6 months off to investigate the real story - is a girl dead or missing? Then we get a huge clichéd mystery about Nazi psycopathic serial killers - father and son share this 'hobby', would you believe! Meanwhile every year the girl who is only missing has been sending framed flowers to her uncle (or is it father, I can't remember?) to let him know she's OK, and he's been misconstruing them to mean it's her killer taunting him.

SHE NEVER ONCE IN 40 YEARS SENT A NOTE?! Rapace's character was raped by her father/stepfather and burns him alive in a car while still a child. Later on she also lets the Nazi son/rapist burn alive in a car.

But when she is raped by her probationist she merely blackmails him. At the end the arms-dealing story is wrapped up too neatly (as if it were more important than the Nazi story) in a final scene that is probably meant to remind us of the final scene in Silence of the Lambs, but reminds me more of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

It has been pointed out that Silence of the Lambs is just a form of fantasy porno, and if you watch a documentary on Broadmoor hospital, the most common type of prisoner (deemed fit to be interviewed at least) is the arsonist.

Rapace's character would be seriously disturbed in reality. Add to this that her sexuality is kept fluid merely for erotic interest and you have something that is even shallower pornographic fantasy than Silence of the Lambs.

Rarely is a missed opportunity this tragically bungled - there's much about the technique that's brilliant; it's just that the story is the worst kind of mindless pot-boiler crap.