A highly respected journalist who's come under extreme fire in a libel case, Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) has been sentenced to serve six months in prison. His actual sentence is down the road though, and in the meantime, he's hired for a seemingly impossible job by Henrik Vanger (Sven-Bertil Taube), an aging but highly respected businessman. For 40-plus years, Henrik has wondered about the disappearance and possible of his niece, Harriet, who vanished without a trace. The evidence and clues point to a very small group of unique suspects, but Henrik has made little progress in the years since. Can experienced investigative journalist Mikael discover a new vein in the case? With some helped from an eccentric but very capable private investigator with a penchant for computer hacking, Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace), Mikael delves into 40 years of evidence and clues, not knowing how deep a hole he's gotten himself into.
Let's get this out of the way. While I enjoyed all three of Larsson's novels, this series opening novel was by far my favorite of the trio. It introduces characters that are in all three novels while adding an expertly well-written murder mystery. Because Daniel Craig is cool, I watched the American version first and similarly liked it if I didn't love it. American, Swedish, anything and everything in between, adapting Larsson's novel to a film version is a daunting task. These are books full of twisting and turning plots, countless characters flitting in and out, countless more stops and locations along the way, flashbacks to the 1960s and beyond, and so much more. The books are so massively packed together I could easily see each of the books getting its own two or three part miniseries. But as you've no doubt noticed -- hopefully -- these are feature films, not miniseries. Characters and subplots are completely excised in some cases, condensed in others. It's the only way to make an even somewhat manageable film.
Having watched both movies, it's hard to write one review without referring to the other one. To be fair, they're completely different films. The American version (from director David Fincher and starring Craig and Rooney Mara) is highly stylized, almost always in a good way. A washed out visual look, an eerie synthesized soundtrack, it all works. From director Niels Arden Oplev, the original Swedish version is a far more traditional crime thriller with the journalistic investigation thrown in. He filmed all over Sweden, and the look of the movie is a plus. Sweden is a beautiful, cold and very white/snowy country, something that translates well to the feature film. The score from Jacob Groth is okay, but not very memorable. More traditional overall in terms of dealing with the story and/or characters, but in a good way.
Something didn't click along the way for me, and I can't quite put my finger on it. Is it because I've now read the book, seen one version and now seen another? I know where it's going and how it's going to get there. More than that, I think it was the casting, maybe even the script hamstringing the casting. I was never impressed with Nyqvist as Mikael, the crusading journalist. He's okay in the part, but there just isn't a ton of energy. He never seems too impressed with the case or interested in where it goes.
The most important part though is the titular character, Lisbeth Salander, the quiet, loner, antisocial, brilliant computer hacker. Mara made different choices with the part, and they worked. Rapace -- the original Lisbeth -- does it similarly, and it works for different ways. Physically, she's slight in stature but she's far from weak. Rapace's Lisbeth is small but epically intimidating with her close-cut aggressive-looking hair, countless piercings and tattoos and biker chick clothes. Rapace does a solid job with the part, but thanks to the script -- which has to accomplish a whole lot in a 152-minute movie -- we learn little about her until the last half hour. Yes, that's partially how the plot develops in the books, but for most of two-plus hours, we just don't know anything about her other than that she is violently raped, seeking revenge and brilliant and intelligent.
As for the rest of the cast, Taube makes a positive, lasting impression as Henrik, the Vanger family patriarch who's been tortured with guilt and questions as to what happened to his niece 40 years later with Ingvar Hirdwall playing Dirch, Henrik's long-time assistant. Peter Andersson does a fine, disturbing job as Bjurman, Lisbeth's legal guardian. Bjorn Granath plays Morell, the police investigator who originally headed the case and has been similarly stumped with each passing year. Peter Haber plays Martin, Harriet's brother.
What I loved most about the book was the developing mystery. Even knowing where it's going, it's cool to see things develop. In both the novel and the two film versions, I loved seeing the case come together as Mikael and Lisbeth unearth clues that have been hidden away by passing decades. Taking the film as a whole though, I was never impressed. It's okay, but not much else. I did like the ending and how true it stuck to Larsson's novel -- with one tweak in the final scene -- but the movie left me feeling pretty cool. Worthwhile for fans of the books, but I definitely recommend reading Larsson's novels first.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009): ** 1/2 /****
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