Released in Theaters: 3/19/2010 (Limited)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a foreign film based on the book by Swedish author Stieg Larsson. There’s nothing better than a book-turned-movie that delivers, and Dragon Tattoo does just that. The book is longer and obviously includes a lot more details than the movie, but the story and the characters are on point. It’s quite complicated, but in a nutshell, the two main characters are Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander. Blomkvist is a financial journalist for Millenium Magazine. He’s charming and good looking even though he’s starting to age a little. (He’s much better looking in the book than in the movie.) Salander is a genius hacker who can find out anything about anybody. She’s in her early 20’s and very tiny with tattoos all over (including a dragon on her back), with a dark past and absolutely no social skills. The two cross paths and begin working together on a murder case that deals with horrific sex crimes and crime against women. It’s definitely a thrill ride right up to the end.
This is the first of a 3-part series called the Millenium Trilogy. The next two foreign films have already been made and will be coming out later this year. An American version of Dragon Tattoo is slated to come out in 2012 and be directed by David Fincher. Rumors of who will play Mikael Blomkvist include Johnny Depp, George Clooney, and Daniel Craig. Craig makes the most sense to me: he looks Swedish and he’s definitely a good looking older guy. Carey Mulligan is rumored to cast as Salander. I’m crossing my fingers for Natalie Portman.
The most interesting thing about this trilogy is that Larsson, who died of a massive heart attack at the age of 50 in 2004, handed over the entire trilogy to his publisher right before his death. He never got to see the enormous success of his work. In 2008, he was the second best-selling author in the world and by March 2010 the trilogy had sold 27 million copies in more that 40 countries.
If that doesn’t make you want to read the book, at least see the movie. It’s intense.
IMDB: 7.7/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 86%
Movie Wiseguys: 7.5/10