Customer Reviews

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (English Dubbed Version)

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Perhaps it is the current need to see that evil eventually consumes itself that make films like THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (AKA "Män som hatar kvinnor") so successful. Or it may be the posthumous fame given Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy (from which this film is 'Millennium: Part 1 - Men Who Hate Women') that has prepared an audience of believers. Whatever the reason this first installment (the other two installments have already been filmed and are ready for release) is being hailed as an epic masterpiece, a film that will go down in cinematic history as a classic. And for that reason you may want to see this current long exploration of the evil of man. But is it a masterpiece.....?

Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg adapted this book for the screen and the script is interpreted by director Niels Arden Oplev who has cast the many characters of the story with some excellent Swedish actors. By the end of this multi-twisted tale we are left satisfied with the balance of good over evil - or are we? After all we're only part way there and, as in the BOURNE SERIES in this country, subsequent parts to the story become only more bizarre - and exciting. At any rate, the story in brief deals with an investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) whose apparent loss of a case of libel against a wealthy corrupt corporate group results in his being chosen by an elderly but mentally vigorous gentleman Henrik Vanger (Sven-Bertil Taube) to investigate a long buried case of the apparent murder of his niece -a deed Vanger is convinced is associated with his disgustingly morally corrupt family. Blomkvist is fascinated and begins his tedious examination of film and facts that seem to add clues as to the mystery surrounding Harriet Vanger's disappearance. Enter a punk rock appearing, pierced and tattooed young girl Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Repace) who ends up assisting Blomkvist in solving the conundrum. After some rather confusing bits of replay of Lisbeth's past and the revelation of her current situation with a guardian assigned to control her after her recent discharge from an institution, we are allowed to watch the discovery of 40 years of serial killings of young girls: the fact that they are all Jewish and that Vanger's family contains a number of ex-Nazis boils the pot. Much gore, visual exposure to violence and the results of violence flood the screen as the eventual discovery of the true history of Harriet Vanger is uncovered.

The film is two and a half hours long but seems much shorter because of the rapid fire sequencing by the director. Much praise has been heaped on Noomi Repace as Lisbeth and while she performs well, and looks bizarre, one wonders why all the hoopla. This is a good film of its kind, very well transforming a book into cinematic excess, and for those who crave gore and acts of depravity it will probably please. For film goers who prefer thinking to raw action this may not be the choice of a film du jour. In Swedish with subtitles and with English dubbing. Grady Harp, July 10

I'm a fervent and early fan of Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy. I would have flown to another city to watch this film if I had to. Luckily, I live in one of the country's best cities for art house cinema: Dallas. Yes, contrary to the expected stereotypes I always have to bat down when I tell out-of-town friends this fact: Dallas has a tremendous art house cinema culture. And, as testament to that, we got "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" very early. What a thrill for us.

I am not going to claim that the movie is better than the book. What makes the books so compelling are the monster-deep dives Larsson takes into varied areas like investigative journalism, corruption, hacking, mafia, governmental affairs, mafia-government connections, intelligence agencies, detectives..and a host of others. What makes the first book spin is its dual axes of investigative journalism and hacking, personified respectively by Larsson's two protagonists, Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander. In the movie, something's gotta give: there's just no earthly way director Niels Arden Oplev is going to be able to fit all of Larsson's work into a film of slightly less than three hours.

So what Oplev does is strip the story down to its core: the hunt for Harriet Vanger. It's this case that serendipitously brings Blomkvist and Salander together. In the process of the focus, we lose some of the flavor that is the hallmark of the book, most notably much of the investigative journalism as practiced inside the walls of Millennium magazine. Millennium's editor, Erika Berger, is but a footnote in the movie but a big part of the book. Likewise, little attention is given to the so-called "Wennerström Affair," the personal and professional downfall that befalls Mikael at the book's outset. Indeed, the first third of the book focuses mainly on these two elements of the tale.

Similarly, we lose out on some other aspects of Mikael's character. Mainly, his babe-magnetism. In the movie, he and Salander develop a sexual relationship. [Indeed, it's undertones of the memories of this relationship that drives much of books two and three.] But the movie has removed the sexual aspects from two of the other relationships Mikael has with female characters.

Despite all that, this movie lives and dies on one turn: it's ability to 'get it right' with its casting of Lisbeth. Over and over I would to my wife "Lisbeth better be good." And she'd tell me the same thing repeatedly. And others I know have the same mantra: don't mess with my ideal vision of Lisbeth. In that light, Noomi Rapace represents deliverance. She scored the essence of the character: we want Lisbeth to have that mix of smarts, hardened exterior, quirky beauty, ferocity and manic energy that drives the book. Ms. Rapace delivers all that in spades. She's maybe a little less elfin than the character described by Larsson, but other than that, she's the Lisbeth from my head.

I urge all fans of the book to see this enjoyable adaptation. [The producers had the smarts to make all three movies at once, so the other two are headed this way.] This is a Swedish story through and through. It deserves to be seen in Swedish. It's distressing to see US box office totals stalling at less than $10M. All that is going to do is fuel the drive to complete an insipid US version with some disheartening casting like Brad Pitt as Mikael and god knows who as Lisbeth. Whoever steps into that role, Noomi Rapace has already left her well behind at the starting line.

I like foreign films alot, and this does not disappoint. Very engaging story line, a thriller that is brilliantly executed. A particular scene involving the main girl and her parole officer gets disturbingly violent, but it has its place in the film. Highly recommended.

I started watching this film with the english subtitles and then I found the english dubbed version. The dubbing did not distract me from the story line at all and I much prefered it to the subtitled version of the film. In my opinion, this film was excellently done and I will be buying it for my video library, as well as the book. This movie is fast paced and keeps the watcher on his or her toes throughout the plot. This film is a keeper !!!

I'm always amazed at the screenplay writers ability to take a very psychologically complex novel and turn it into a 'can't put it down' film. That was accomplished in this one.

I was excited about Amazon Prime making these available through broadband on various clients. Someone had added what appeared to be the subtitle one on our Netflix list. Thought my wife would enjoy the dubbed rather than the subtitle version.

So, went to bed planning to just check on our ability to get it with my Dell Streak pocket tablet. Once it started I could not wait watched the whole thing till almost two in the morning ! The mystery for me is: Can they take a very good book and turn it into a very cool film.....no question here.

It won the honor of being the first movie I have viewed on a tablet. Very fun.

Hope to have a marathon tomorrow!

The film of The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo does not work despite its violent and provocative subject matter.It came across as more a made-for-TV-film.The film was awful,flat,dull,with few sympathetic characters and no cinematic sense at all.It closely follows the book and is a pretty faithful adaptation.The film was more from Blomkvist's point of view.Lisbeth,a feminist avenging angel and tattooed computer hack,is a strong female character(well played by Noomi Rapace) seen from the (weaker)male lead's point of view,rather than her own.Blomkvist is supposed to be a campaigning journalist-editor of a magazine.I was not convinced by the Nyqvist's playing him in such a mute,low-key way.The only time I was convinced was in the scene where he is constricted,terrified and waiting to be killed by Martin,the psychopath.The subject matter-the abuse and mutilation of women-is not eroticised and depicts Larsson's major preoccupations:fascism and violence against women.The unbelievable horrors Blomkvist unearths are rooted in both and anti-semitism is a motive in the killings.

I thought the sex scenes were not overdone and there is a kind of equality between the genders.The focus is always on the victim's experience.I also thought Nyqvist didn't bring out the tensions,the clashes between Blomkvist and Lisbeth as they worked together.From the film we can foretell quite early on what is going to happen with the fascist Vanglers with their many cupboarded skeletons.The graphic photographs of an array of murdered women in the killer's lair doesn't leave much to the imagination, may have betrayed some of the book's original subtlety and feminism.This may be necessary to the narrative:Salander will eventually behave in a ruthless and brutal manner as a result of the view of the world her experiences have given her.What I particularly liked about the film was in it's use of photography,the working out of the topography of the disappearance of Harriet,placing many photos side by side,blowing them up,reinvoking the past through imagery.This recalled films like Blow-Up and Tell No One,similarly in its search for a `dead' person.The serial killer/abuse scenarios and the revenge fantasy is dangerously close to the reactionary Hollywood style that will be stepped up with the remake in the American version.I still much prefer this subtitled film with its unknown actors to any concocted by Hollywood.And Rapace is phenomenal.She is a feminist icon.

I generally do not like watching foreign language films if they are dubbed. Something gets lost in the dubbing, like the fact that one can be distracted by the fact that the words being heard are obviously not the ones being spoken. That's why I prefer the non-dubbed version of this movie.

Never the less, I decided to watch the dubbed movie, and I can say that this is still one of the most suspenseful and most thrilling movie that I have ever seen. It explores the inner soul of its heroine, which makes it very clear why she must confront the mystery and evil before her.

I will be very interested in seeing whether the great United States director, David Fincher, can do this book justice when he remakes a movie that is already a masterpiece. Regardless of whether he does so, the previews for the Hollywood version are riveting.

Noomi Rapace totally nailed it, hook line and sinker. Her character Lisbeth Salander, a researcher teams up with Mikael Blomkvist to look into a forty year old mystery. Beautifully done, best movie I have seen in a long time..

I started to watch the [English Subtitled] one and came across this one instead, the English Dubbing was really well done, at times I couldnt tell that it was Dubbed. The storyline is one that kept me entertained and glued to the movie, there are some questionable scenes intended for mature audiences. Other than that, it wraps up well, all questions answered.

Haven't read the books yet, but plan on doing it since seeing the movie. Starts out a little slow but then gets going and draws you in till the very end! Would recommend you watch it and the dubbing was really good as well, you can't barely tell that it was in swedish.