Movie #545 ........................."The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo" (Am.)

Movie #545 "The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo" (American, 2011) is not for everyone. I bet I said the same thing about the Swedish version, and I intend to resee most of the first one now that I have the American one still fresh in my mind, for comparisons because people are already beginning to ask me which I liked best. Right now, I say the Swedish one -- maybe because it was the first one I saw, but mostly, the way I remember the film, the biggest difference is the relationship between the girl and Mikhail. I thought it was tenderer and more real in the swedish film --- but that's from memory. So I will go back and rewatch and update this in a few days. However, Be warned --- if you are seeing this movie without reading the books, you need to know there are a few scenes that are raw: the rape scene, the revenge scene and the end scene to name the three biggest. I think the swedish ones were even worse because they have less of a public watching their films to be accountable to ------but the American ones were still hard to watch......again. For sure, those are the scenes I will fast forward through in the swedish scene --- do not need to see them again (didn't need to see them the first time) There's nudity in this (which I'm sure was in the swedish film, but once again, it's swedish, so there 's an expectation there -- hah!) I remember the darkness, the snow, the buildings (all in Sweden) in the Swedish version, and Fincher doesn't disappoint here (although, I heard some of it was filmed in LA) The accents were all over here ---- which was kind of annoying, because the people aren't in the movie that much (it's the vanger family, if you read the book, and in the book, we had a family tree that took up two pages, to follow) and they are hard to understand at times --- And Craig has a british accent --- why? The Girl is okay --- but she mumbles and clips words (which is in her character) but without the subtitles, we miss things --- so see it with subtitles, if you can? (I know, this critique is suggesting you wait and see this movie (or he Swedish one) when it comes to Netflix and you can put on the subtitles so you don't miss a thing and fast forward through the three raw scenes). One more thing --- the American ending is where Dave (who didn't read any of the books) got lost (from my feeble memory I think it was manufactured that way (not from the book), but I plan to check), and I agree. I couldn't completely explain the money thing --- it was easier in the book and set up better for an ah hah moment! Overall, not a christmas movie and not sure it's an oscar contender (maybe the girl, but the "help" secondary people were better, and if she's catapulted into best actress, it seems silly contending with Glenn Close or Meryl Streep or Viola Davis, but whatever).


I rated it 4.0, average rating 3.8
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
(2011) R
When a young computer hacker is tasked with investigating a prying journalist, their separate missions become entangled amid a decades-old conspiracy. David Fincher directs this English adaptation of Stieg Larsson's novel.
Genre:Thrillers, Crime Thrillers
This movie is:Violent, Suspenseful