Review of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009) by Bruno C — 16 Jan 2012

Dug it. Procrastinated seeing the film for so long, but finally got the urge to pop in the dvd player after the golden globes...since the US "remake" seems to also be worth my time (which I wasn't too sure given how Hollywood remakes of foreign films are 99.9% lame and unnecessary, not a fan of Daniel Craig, Fincher I like most of the time, but wasn't sure how he'd fare with a remake) might as well see the original so I can make the comparisons! :).

Beautiful cinematography, I really liked the characters and plot, Lisbeth really shined as a strong female lead in the story, dug the whole punk-goth design too (reminded me a lot of a good friend of mine), kinda got a little lost at times with the fast pace of things at the beginning (due to bad subtitles more than anything, Latin American dvd with English subtitles, not up to par) but my interest was kept. In fact, when we get introduced to the Vaner family, I did get a sense already that the friendliest of them would turn out to be most involved with the mystery at hand. :) I didn't expect there to be the abuse and rape of Lisbeth on-screen/part of the actual story (thought it might be part of the backstory only) and as it unfolded was worried that she was going to be continuously victimized...so glad when she came back to blackmail the a-hole of the probation officer/guardian, really a good way of springboarding the character.

I had hoped to be blown away by the film...which didn't happen (as I guess cuz I had already guessed the resolution, so there wasn't really a MAJOR plot twist in my mind, though what kept me guessing were the mysterious numbers in the diary and loved they way they turned them into biblical passages and how they were all related to unsolved murders, that was brilliant), though it was a super solid crime drama/mystery.

So next stop: Fincher's version.