At the risk of Mark making a big thing out of it, I’m kinda disappointed I didn’t get a chance to read Stieg Larsson’s book before seeing The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Murder mysteries are great but I’ve never understood how they can withstand repeat viewings/readings. Now that I’ve seen the film, I’m less interested in reading the novel.
So keeping in mind that this reviewer isn’t in a position to compare Niels Arden Oplev’s film with the source material, one may or may not be pleased to know that The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a great mystery film. There’s nothing particularly groundbreaking about it – this is a genre piece and something that, upon reflection, would have probably found itself on television rather than the big screen if the books hadn’t been so darn popular.
In fact, the film often feels like it was made for TV. The cinematography is good (if lacking in any flair) and more than once it felt like I was watching digital video rather than film. The long running time (152 minutes – which actually flew by) also made me feel that they must have considered making it a miniseries at one stage or another. That being said, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is engrossing viewing.
I quite enjoyed not knowing what all the fuss was about before sitting down to watch the film, but for those who care, disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) is called upon by billionaire Henrik Vanger (Sven-Bertil Taube) to solve a 40 year old murder. The tale that follows isn’t the least bit tangled but the pieces are revealed in a gradual manner that keeps the viewer hooked. The eponymous ‘girl’, Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) is at first an anomaly but it was pleasing to see how her and Michael’s stories became entwined. She is quite a memorable character (less so Mikael, whose passivity is nevertheless a nice contrast to Lisbeth). The story veers into dangerous territory (crime fiction has a tradition of revelling in violence towards women) but manages to save itself – just. There are still lazy connections made between actions and reactions but for the most part, the film manages to at least address the more offensive aspect of modern crime fiction.
This isn’t a locked room mystery, nor are there many twists and turns – we have a huge list of suspects, none of which we get to know very well. Perhaps this is where the book was more comprehensive, but for my part I didn’t have any chance of guessing the ending because the film didn’t really provide any clues. I’ll be happy to be proven wrong, but it doesn’t seem likely that I’ll pick up anything on a second viewing (as opposed to ‘Veronica Mars’ for instance, which I recently re-watched.)
I’m hard pressed to understand why those who’ve read the book would want to see this film. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo makes for great viewing if you’re going in ‘clean’, but I can’t imagine those who already know the ending (and have gone on to read the sequels) would get much out of it. I’m now going to have to make the decision as to whether I read ahead or simply wait for the sequel, The Girl Who Played with Fire (Flickan som lekte med elden), due out the end of this year (they’ve gone all Twilight on the franchise.)