This book stars Daniel Craig as Mikael Blomkvist, a recently unpopular journalist and co-owner of Millennium magazine, a left wing magazine who's goal is to expose capitalist criminals. After an embarrassing series of events, Mikael, on his own doing, finds himself out off work. The movie shows an edgy and terrifying looking girl, Lisbeth Salander, giving a security brief to an older man regarding Mikael. This later materializes into what this movie's plot surrounds. A girl, Harriet Vanger, belonging to a wealthy family has been missing for 40 years. Mikael is hired to investigate her apparent murder while documenting and writing a biography on the head of the family as a cover up. Mikael is perfect for the job due to his employment status and his innate investigative skills. Mikael discovers how deep this mystery goes, and reaches out to Salander, played by Rooney Mara, for help after discovering she had hacked into his computer for that earlier background report. With this newfound help from Salander, and her freak computer skills/merciless tactics, Blomkvist discovers more and more about how dirty the family, and the events surrounding Harriet's murder actually are. This may not be the most incredible summary ever, but as someone who has read this book, it is very hard for me to escape detail, so I stayed as shallow as I completely could.
**Warning: If you have not seen the movie do not read: this is for the ones who've read the book. Now I know there are few certainties in life, but the book being better than movie is usually a shoe in. It was hard for me to detach from the detail orientated reader that I am, and really sit back and watch this movie. Towards the middle I was finally able to do this. Obviously there are a few things that will be missing in the movie. Deep inter-character development was one of the biggest things I noticed. We never really got a vast understanding of the relationship between Kalle and Berger, but the movie did touch on it a little. It never mentioned a single Millennium employee, which I thought was a little strange, we'll see if that carries over through the series. We also never got to see a connection between Kalle and the various Vanger family members, most importantly, Cecilia. Now this wasn't a big picture problem, but for some of us detail oriented people, we like to see relationship development. The movie took a typical hollywood twist when it revealed that Harriet actually lived in London, as opposed to the Harriet from down under in the book. All the readers that I have talked to thought this movie was rushed, but that is natural in these situations. Looking back, I believe it to be a well made movie, and hats off to creating this for such an amazing book. One more thing: I was so glad to see that the director showed a little into Mikael's odd addiction for coffee. I've noticed it in the book, and apparently so did Zaillen. P.S. I'm a one cup a day drinker so I may have a certain bias.
All in all, this is a great movie. The book received tremendous amounts of acclaim worldwide, so you know the story has to be well thought. The acting in it was superb, especially by Rooney Mara, who played Salander exactly as I had imagined it during reading the book. The movie from beginning to end is roughly 2.5 hours long, but with such a fast paced story it felt as if it flew by. Here is what I say from the different movie goers.
The Deep Thinker: This person will probably feel a little rushed during this movie. They obviously like the deep story lines, and as this movie tried, it probably didn't reach the depth that gets the deep thinker going. Now the acting in this movie will be right on par for you. Daniel Craig delivers a great performance, and Rooney Mara steals the show. It also had some other big name actors playing medium sized roles that did just as well. On your scale of 1-10, I'd give it a proper 7.
The Dramatic/Casual Dude: I'm not sure why I paired you guys together, but I'm confident I can kill 2 stones with one bird. This movie has a very interesting and mysterious story line that will attract any drama seeker. One thing that may freak you both out a bit, there are some very 'real' scenes depicting sexual abuse in this movie. I can just see right now the casual dude sitting down with popcorn and all of the sudden boom..weird scene. Just be ready both of you, but when all is said and done, I think you guys will enjoy the good balance between character development, acting, story development, and special effects. On your scale...8.
Dynamite Dan: You my friend are one of my favorites, partly because I know you will most definitely enjoy this movie. Now be wary, it doesn't have huge explosions or freaking crazy automatic gun scenes. But I think it will appeal to you. It has solid action, edge of your seats violent scenes, and is a couple of golf strokes away from making you spill your popcorn (watch the movie, you'll get the joke). Mr. Dan, on your 1-10 scale, I am giving it a confident 9.
The Stalker: This movie is for anyone who follows the book trilogy and Daniel Craig. Now I know it has Stellan Skarsgard (Good Will Hunting), so for any of those fans, go see it. For those of you who have read the book you really have no excuse not to see it. Now that I have seen it I can visualize the characters better, and it's just something you have to do. Read what I wrote above. For those Daniel Craig enthusiasts, this movie did him a solid. He somehow shed whatever accent is natural to him, and delivered a very solid acting performance. This will most likely be right under Casino Royale for anyone who stalks this guy.
Should you see it? "Ja" Swedish for YES
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