If you’ve read this blog before, you probably have come across a post about the Millenium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson. I love those books! All three of them are amazing! You need to read them, and if you want to know my specific thoughts about each book, check out these links: “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo & The Girl Who Played with Fire” and “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest”
So, for the sake of being complete, I have decided to also provide my thoughts on the film adaptation of Larsson’s first novel. I’m not going to give a complete rundown of the movie, though. That would basically be rehashing my post about that book.
I will say the movie held true to Larsson’s vision as portrayed in the novel. The book is incredibly rich in detail, but of course the movie had to streamline everything in order to make it viable at the box office. The movie moved quickly. Things happened at a rapid-fire pace.
Everything followed the novel perfectly, save the ending.
Mikael Blomkvist, played by Daniel Craig, is the disgraced publisher of Millenium Magazine who takes a job research the strange, 40-year-old disappearance of a young girl who is the niece of Swedish industrialist Henrik Vanger, played by Christopher Plummer.
Skilled computer hacker Lisbeth Salander, played Rooney Mara, ends up helping Blomkvist, and the two tackle the problem.
If you’ve read the book, you know there is a graphic scene in which Lisbeth is raped. The movie shows this, so be forewarned. The rape was not glamorized. It simply stayed true to the book.
However, as I mentioned earlier, there is one part that wasn’t true to the book. It concerns the missing girl. I don’t want to give anything away, but how that is resolved in the book does not match the movie. It kind of made me sad that they changed it, but I still loved the movie.
It was fast-paced and kept me on the edge of my seat. Even thought I knew what the story was, I anxiously awaited each scene to see if what would happen next.
Oh, and since I did develop a bit of a crush on Lisbeth Salander while reading the books, I was worried about how she would be portrayed. The movie didn’t fail me. She was hot. She is intelligent, edgy and confident. Good work, Rooney Mara.
(Here’s a fun fact about Rooney Mara, according to her bio on IMDB.com, “she is one of four children of NFL football team New York Giants executive Timothy Christopher Mara and Kathleen McNulty, the granddaughter of Art Rooney, Sr., the founder of the Pittsburgh Steelers football franchise. (Her mother’s maiden name is Rooney.) Her paternal grandfather was Giants founder Tim Mara.” I love the Steelers! That’s my team! How neat is that?)
In short, read the book and then watch this movie. You won’t be disappointed.
It is rated R and runs 158 minutes.
For complete information about the movie, visit the IMDB.com page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1568346/
