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Män som Hatar Kvinnor
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Men Who Hate Women
Sweden / Denmark / Germany / Norway 2009
produced by Søren Stærmose, Anni Faurbye Fernandez (executive), Lone Korslund (executive), Peter Nadermann (executive), Ole Søndberg (executive), Mikael Wallen (executive) for Yellow Bird Films, ZDF, Sveriges Television (SVT), Nordisk Film
directed by Niels Arden Oplev
starring Michael Niqvist, Noomi Rapace, Lena Endre, Peter Haber, Sven-Bertil Taube, Peter Andersson, Ingvar Hirdvall, Marika Lagercrantz, Björn Granath, Ewa Fröling, Michalis Koutsogiannakis, Annika Hallin, Sofia Ledarp, Tomas Köhler, David Dencik, Stefan Sauk, Gösta Bredefeldt, Fredrik Ohlsson, Jacob Ericksson, Gunnel Lindblom, Barbro Enberg, Reuben Sallmander, Yasmine Garbi, Georgi Staykov, Nina Norén, Emil Almén, Mikael Rahm, Willie Andréason, Lennart R.Svensson, Karl Oskar Törnros, Kalled Mustonen, Henrik Knutsson, Alexander Pascalidou, Tehilla Blad, Julia Sporre, Laura Lind, Isabella Isacson, Magnus Stenius
screenplay by Nikolaj Arcel, Rasmus Heisterberg, based on the novel by Stieg Larsson, music by Jacob Groth
Millenium
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) has just been sentenced
to 6 months in prison for a series of articles he did on a big corporation
when he's hired by industrialist Henrik Vanger (Sven-Bertil Taube) to find
out what has happened to his niece Harriet, who disappeared 40 years ago,
an assignment that should enable Blomkvist to earn quite a tidy sum before
having to go to prison. Blomkvist accepts manly because he has no other
options. Blomkvist finds quite a few clues, but his investigations seem
to be stopped cold when it comes to the most promising clue yet, a
collection of names and telephone numbers found in Harriet's diary, a
collection that just makes no sense. Enter Lisbeth (Noomi Rapace), a
problem child with a dragon tattoo who is also a very gifted hacker and
who has been hired to check out Blomkvist by Henrik Vanger before he hired
him. Thing is, Lisbeth did not lose interest in Blomkvist even after her
job was over, and while Blomkvist has already given up on getting anywhere
with his investigations, Lisbeth finds out the phone numbers are actually
bible quotes, and combined with the names, they lead onto the trail of a
serialkiller. Lisbeth and Blomkvist soon move in together and combine
forces to solve the puzzle, and they become a couple as well, but it's not
that easy to find a serialkiller from 40 years ago - and n fact, his
killing spree started even sooner, shortly after World War II. Eventually,
Blomkvist and Lisbeth figure out that all the girls murdered were Jewish,
and that's a clue that eventually leads to Henrik Vanger's brother Harald
(Göster Bredefeldt), and while Blomkvist breaks into his house to find
evidence, Lisbeth goes through the accounts of his company (no idea why
they keep accounts that old though). Blomkvist is called red-handed by
Harald, who threatens to shoot him, but then saved by Harald's nephew (and
Harriet's brother) Martin (Peter Haber) - who later knocks Blomkvist out,
ties him up and confesses that he's the killer Blomkvist has been looking
for. Sure, he wasn't even born when the killing spree has started, but
killing is actually something he took over from his dad. As for Harriet:
sure, he and his dad abused her, and she found out about their little
shared secret, she even killed dad, but Martin didn't have anything to do
with her disappearance - and in fact, why would he lie after confessing to
everything else. Martin is about to kill Blomkvist when Lisbeth, who has
found out his secret via accounting, intervenes, beats him up, engages him
in a carchase, in the end of which he crashes and dies. Case solved safe
for one little detail: Where's Harriet? Why in Australia of course,
where she (played by Ewa Fröling) has hidden for all these years fearing
the wrath of Martin, but now that he's gone she dares to return to her
uncle ... With the case closed, Blomkvist goes to prison for six months,
but while he's inside, Lisbeth finds enough evidence against the company
who has put him there to drive it's CEO to suicide and on the side,
she transfers enough company money to her own account to last ehr a
lifetime.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a film that
has actully got its moments, there are interesting details, unusual plot
devices, sudden outbursts of violence and the like - but overall the movie
is pretty much a disappointment, especially considering its promising
title: The whole story is over-convoluted nd filled up with way too many
unnecessary subplots for its own good, so much so that it takes 150
minutes to tell its rather feeble core story (and there is even an
extended version of this), Its key plottwists all seem way too
far-fetched, its key characters remain hollow despite being given
extensive back stories, and the extensive post-finale ending tries way too
hard to tie everything up neatly and bring everything to a happy ending to
even sustain interest. That said, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
is by no means the worst film I've ever seen ... but that doesn't
necessarily make it good, does it?
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