Review of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009) by Cameron H — 02 Aug 2014

If The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo were simply about the mystery of a missing girl to be solved by a duo of a middle-aged man and a young woman, both of which are single, then I would have passed on the viewing experience. The director (I would shout out names, but I believe anyone, including myself, who reads my reviews doesn't know of Swedish film people)does not add much to the story beyond simply watching it unfold, but the mystery itself engaged me at times. I like it when I don't need the investigators (or underground researchers, in this rare case) to understand a paradox in solving the mystery. If anything, the director deserves credit for not confusing the audience. I also enjoyed how sadistic particular characters turn out to be, one of which I am using lines for an audition monologue.

As easy as the primary story is to follow, the sub-plots are what set the whole piece apart from most mysteries. Journalist Blomkvist is on deck for a prison sentence, after being framed for creating false journalistic evidence. In the six months remaining before his sentence, he takes the job of solving the aforementioned mystery. Hacker Lisbeth Salander, AKA the girl with the dragon tattoo, is hired for any secretive research jobs she can get. She has photogenic memory and is on probation. I infer that she adopted that psychological trait from a traumatizing event of her childhood. Lisbeth's character is its own mystery. Several times, she proves to be unforgiving in her sickly vengeful nature. I watched the English version of this film first, so I knew what would happen from the beginning. The ending was personally too unrealistic for me to accept as an ending. I'll just add that hackers and secret agents are not synonymous. My word is that The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo warrants repeated viewings. If you like the first film, I recommend watching the sequels that reveal more on the background of the title character.