The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

[Zippykins1]

So this wasn't quite as good as I thought it was going to be. But perhaps just weary of the story having read the books and seen the original films last year. Knowing pretty much exactly what was going to happen? But reasonably engaging.

[fortunesfool]

See, I went in completely blind. Hadn't read the book or seen the original swedish version.

And it was still a bit crap.

Despite some gratuitous sexual violence in the first hour and a weird OTT bond-esque title sequence, it was really testing my patience. I doesn't matter how nicely shot it is, dull exposition is just dull exposition.

At the midway point, when the two lead characters get together, it picks up considerably and begins to build some momentum but I still walked out with on overwhelming sense of 'Meh".

Easily David Fincher's worst film and i'm still unsure why he chose the material. Well, other than a decent paycheck.

Very, very disappointing.

[MikeyRix]

I went in cynical, I came out surprised as I'd spent the best part of eighteen months boycotting this film. I still prefer Rapace over Rooney, but this version moved quicker - and had more humour - than the original as well as *spoiler* the novel's original ending/s, which completely lacked in the Swedish version *end spoiler*. I maintain that Daniel Craig is still too pretty to be Blomkvist, but overall it was a pretty good Eng-lang adap.

[fortunesfool]

It's certainly solid and well made but there's dozens of film-makers out there who can do 'solid and well made'. You expect original/exceptional from Fincher.

In his defence though, I just thought the material was fairly run-of-the-mill-detective-thriller fare. Other than the Salander character it was all pretty forgettable.

[Lizhawkins]

****

Here's a link to Total Film's 4 star review of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

In case you can't be bothered to go looking for it on the TF website!

****

[fortunesfool]

Hmm. I must say I found the score incredibly distracting early on. Where it drove a lot of the scenes in The Social Network, it took me out of the film on several occasions here and seemed plonked on to try and liven things up.

[dojj singh]

The only thing putting me off watching it is that there seem to be about 15 different films with the same title and I'm not sure if i should watch some of them first or not.

Is this even the first in the trilogy or the last? Because I don't want to ruin the excitement of watching a good film if I'm disappointed with what came before or after.

[Zippykins1]

Originally Posted by dojj singh

The only thing putting me off watching it is that there seem to be about 15 different films with the same title and I'm not sure if i should watch some of them first or not.

Is this even the first in the trilogy or the last? Because I don't want to ruin the excitement of watching a good film if I'm disappointed with what came before or after.

its the first.

[MikeyRix]

Originally Posted by dojj singh

The only thing putting me off watching it is that there seem to be about 15 different films with the same title and I'm not sure if i should watch some of them first or not.

Is this even the first in the trilogy or the last? Because I don't want to ruin the excitement of watching a good film if I'm disappointed with what came before or after.

First. The next books/ films are The Girl who Played with Fire and The Girl who Kicked the Hornets' Nest. Apparently they're ploughing ahead with adapting the second one into English. Given that the Swedish version was the weakest of the film trilogy, they could probably do a lot better with it. Heh

[ColouredPurple]

This is more Sherlock than Sherlock. It has an interesting case, a great build up and an exciting climax.

Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara really give it their all.

David Flincher creates appropriate atmosphere throughout. From the opening credits with a pounding version of Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song, as arranged by Trent Reznor, to the last heartbreaking scene, the dark atmosphere never lets up.

And yet, throughout it all, there are moments of genuine humour.

It's a really well balanced film which remains interesting throughout.

I had watched the original Swedish version but enough time has passed for me not to remember every detail. Besides, I have nothing against watching a well done re-interpretation.

One warning though: There's a rape scene which is quite graphic and brutal so some people might want to cover their eyes or not bother with the film. You've been warned.