Review of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) by Enrica C — 29 Dec 2012

If you loved the book(s) as I did, you're probably going to love this movie as well. In almost 10 years this is the first movie based on a book that DID NOT let me down, but left me deeply satisfied: if I had to do a movie starring Stieg Larsson's characters I would have shoot it the same way more or less, so thank you David! Characters are not as deeply explored as they are in the book, a few details have been changed, a few lines have been erased, but the scenes I've seen... I've seen them in my mind while reading, and they did look almost alike.

"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" just makes me want to get lost in Stieg Larsson's book once again, this is why I can tell this movie is right and a wonderful adaption. It just made me fall in love with these characters once again, and makes me want to explore them more and more. David Fincher did a beautiful job along with ALL the others involved in the production; sure --- I would have added a couple of dialogues between Lisbeth and Mikael, I'm sorry Lisbeth's mother wasn't a part of the movie and that relationships weren't as well explored here as they were in the book --- but that would have been impossible, wasn't it?

This doesn't change the fact that Steven Zaillian did a great job when writing this adapted screenplay, and David Fincher did a beautiful job in putting together these 'fast running' 150 minutes: I wish it was 30something minutes longer. And by the way, I could not have imaged a more appropriate soundtrack for this gothic, 'uncomfortable' movie -- I did like the opening titles and thought they were really right. But I didn't like the closing song very much... that's one thing I would change.

This said, Daniel Craig proved himself to be a great Mikael Blomkvist. He's not exactly as a pictured Mikael, but he's close enough -- I was looking forward to see the scene where he meets Lisbeth for the first time. I loved that scene in the movie, it was just as I pictured it in my mind while reading the book. And Rooney Mara was good too, along with the rest of the cast; I must say that watching the movie you can't really tell how deep and complex the character of Lisbeth is --- for that you do have to go read the book, and I really suggest you do that.

The ending is exactly as it is in the book. I loved that detail. Too bad we couldn't hear what was going on in Lisbeth's mind in that and other moments of the movie; that's why I think the book is one hundred times better than the movie. But this movie could not have been better -- so it's absolutely recommended. But be sure to read the book before you watch the movie!

One of the best movie released in the last 4 years. So my advice is go watch it right now, do not skip it. Now I'm looking forward to see the original Swedish movies too ---.