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| Movie Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Alternate Title: Don't Get Mad, Get Even
Story: It is better to get to
the party late than to not get there at all, right? And what a dark
party this gripping film turned out to be. It was directed by Niels
Arden Oplev and written by Rasmus Heisterberg
and Nikolaj Arcel and based on the immensely popular
novel by Stieg Larsson. I admit that I have not read
Larsson's Millennium trilogy of books featuring the fascinating character
called, Lisbeth Salander. Journalist Michael Nyqvist has just lost a libel suit
brought by a corrupt financier and is about to spend months in jail.
While awaiting his jail time he is hired by wealthy industrialist Henrik
Vanger to solve the case of his niece who disappeared or was murdered
40 years ago. I will skip over lots of sub-plots and say that Salander,
an amazing computer hacker, teams up with Nyqvist to attempt to solve
this 40 year old mystery. Along the way we are introduced to much evil, corruption, Nazis, sexual
predators, sadists, rapists, dark secrets, anti-semitism and other such
cruelties that will make you squirm. This is a film that allows you
to get lost inside its ugly premise. It is beautifully filmed and I
could not wait to see how this female protagonist externalized her rage
to the delight of this viewer. Yes, there are many characters and tangential story lines but I was
most interested in the crime solving nitty gritty details and the use
of one heck of an Apple laptop, internet searches, photo-editing software,
web cams and some other very familiar computer geekiness. If you need a break from this summer's heat, check out the The Girl
With the Dragon Tattoo. I, for one, am ready for the next film in the
trilogy. Check out the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIrjgFphVIc Acting: Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomkvist was perfect
in his role as was the amazing Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth
Salander.
Trivia: Noomi Rapace used the holes of her old piercing's
when she was a young punk rocker in her role as Lisbeth Salander in
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Form his website: Stieg Larsson
(1954-2004) was a Swedish writer and journalist. Prior to his sudden
death of a heart attack in November 2004 he finished three detective
novels in his trilogy "The Millenium-series" which were published
posthumously; "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo", "The
Girl Who Played With Fire" and "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets'
Nest". Altogether, his trilogy has sold more than 20 million copies
in 41 countries (spring of 2010), and he was the second best selling
author in the world 2008. Before his career as a writer, Stieg Larsson
was mostly known for his struggle against racism and right-wing extremism.
http://www.stieglarsson.com/
Predilection: None
Critters: None
Food: Eggs
Sex Spectrum: There is lots of sex (most of it violent).
Blatant Product Placement: Apple, Nikon, Heinz Ketchup
Soundtrack: I stirring soundtrack. Opening Titles: Financier Henrik Vanger opens a strange
package from Hong Kong.
Visual Art: Sweden is cold and foreboding in the
winter.
Theater Audience: About 30 other NYer's escaping
form the 100 Big Apple heat. The chilly Swedish landscaped helped to
cool my body temperature down.
Weather: Cold
Sappy Factor: 0
Quirky Meter: 0
Squirm Scale: 3 - the sadistic scenes made me squirm
quite a bit.
Drift Factor: I paid attention throughout. Predictability Level: I was pretty sure of what was
going to happen.
Tissue Usage: 0
Oscar Worthy: Maybe
Big Screen or Rental: Go for the big screen if you
can still find it playing.
Length: 30 minutes over the two hour Lobo rule.
LOBO HOWLS: 8.5
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