The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009): C-

An adaptation of an apparent dime-store cheapie masquerading as important literature, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is overflowing with faux-titillating elements, from lesbianism and rape to S&M-themed sexual violence and murder. Nazis also play a key role in this cinematic version of the first novel in deceased Swedish author Stieg Larsson’s “Millennium Trilogy,” though unlike kindred best-seller phenom The Da Vinci Code, this tale is less about fancifully rewriting history than merely indulging in exploitation-fiction devices. After being disgraced and ordered to serve three months in jail, crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) is hired by a wealthy industrialist to unravel the mystery of his beloved niece, who disappeared without a trace forty years earlier. This investigation ultimately pairs him with Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace), a bisexual computer hacker – and laughably contrived wannabe badass goth antihero – whose piercings, tattoos and jet black hair and matching apparel all speak to her traumatic past and painful present, which involves being raped by her scummy legal guardian. Their joint mission results in personal and professional redemption, though not before director Niels Arden Oplev’s film can revel in its seedier aspects – scenes of abuse are shot with commercial-slick graphicness and more than one eye toward arousing rather than horrifying – while appropriating every aesthetic trope from the modern Hollywood thriller handbook. Larsson and Oplev clearly intend their genre material to double as some sort of statement on male brutality towards women, but the proceedings’ omnipresent luridness negates any such intentions, reducing the whodunit action to merely low-grade suspense rubbish.

Comments

[Sine Mahilig]

Did we watch the same movie! I was glued to my seat when the story of Harriet began to unravel. The first 45 minutes was a bit slow and I had a bit of a hard time following the scenes while reading the English subtitles. But man that was a good murder mystery that I haven't enjoyed in a long time. I'd give it an A.

[Mark E]

Nah, initial rating is quite accurate. My girlfriend is a big fan of the novels, but i've questioned such a reasoning.

Honestly, I was intially captured by the film's presentation. However, by the last twenty minutes i was struggling to stay awake.

Let us all be honest here; if i were 16 years old, this movie would have starred Sharon Stone.

Respectable trash in its technical aspects, but still trash in the end.

[ryan]

I certainly wasn't aroused; the shots were definately made to horrify. Also, Lisbeth was far more reasonable in the book, and her past his actually quite tragic. the ritualistic serial killer was actually well done. Larsson also had a history of being a journalist tackling scum like the guys in the book

[Fred]

Larsson was not a crusading journo. That was just the mythology built up by him and his partner Eva Gabrielsson. The books are absolute rubbish with zero characterisation and ludricrous, nonsensical, convoluted plots. Read Andre Jute's critical analysis of Larsson's supposed 'crusades' for womens rights. You'll be surprised.