Welcome to Gracie Mae DeLunac's life, via the computer. This is where you'll see updates on my stories and whatnot. I'll post when I can about what new stuff has occurred in my mind, in the world, and whatever goes. Benvenue, everyone!
Criteria:
0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.
1/5 – Barely worth any time.
2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.
3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.
4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.
5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around – characters, music, theme, storyline, etc.
"The Girl Who Played With Fire" is the second movie in a trilogy based on the Millenium trilogy by Stieg Larsson. This was released in Sweden in September of 2009. This is available on Netflix in Swedish with English subtitles.
Swedish trilogy versus the English-spoken 2011 version of "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo":
* I originally knocked the 2011 movie down for Lisbeth threatening her guardian (make good reports, be abstinant, and do not try to have your stomach tattoo removed or I will put it on your forehead for everyone to see; I'll be watching). However, this movie ("The Girl Who Played With Fire") had that in there.
* The 2011 movie had a fond-connection between Lisbeth and her former guardian, which I found odd but in the "Played with Fire" movie, she was communicating well with her former guardian.
NOTE: I will be editting the other post because of these two tidbits, but not enough to change my rating.
Plotline:
It has been a year since Lisbeth and Blomkvist worked the Vanger case. Lisbeth has been travelling with the money that she ciphoned off of Wennerstrom. She comes back and hooks back up with her girlfriend, who is a bigger character in this movie. Lisbeth checks on her guardian Bjurman and finds that he is visiting tattoo removal sites and not writing glowing reviews, for which she threatens him with his gun (at his home) that if he didn't do what she told him to, she'd kill him. Unfortunately she was not wearing gloves at that point, which comes back to bite her later.
A journalist comes to Millenium and tells them that he and his criminology-studying girlfriend have been researching into sex trafficking, finding a few johns [buying customers] that they could roast in a public article through the Millenium, if Millenium said it would be alright with them. This journalist is given a desk and a 2 month contract with Millenium and just as they are ready to publish the findings, the journalist and his girlfriend are murdered. Blomkvist is the first person to see them dead, as he was going over to get hard copy evidence to bring back to the shop. Of course, that makes him a buffet to other reporters.
At first they do not have anyone to pin it on until they find out that Bjurman was also murdered, in his home, and that Lisbeth's finger prints are on the gun. The police jump at the idea that Lisbeth is the main suspect, considering her past, and start trying to find her. Meanwhile, others are also trying to find her by beating up (and trying to burn) Lisbeth's girlfriend.
While going through the investigation, everyone said that Lisbeth was guilty of the 3 murders but Blomkvist denies it and defends for her. The two of them also find out some important information about the murderers, information that I found slightly shocking, which gives it a bit of a twist at the end.
Music:
I did not notice any specifically.
Character Development:
As this is a sequel, the characters have already been developed. However, Blomkvist also learns about Lisbeth's past and where she has come from [learning that mysterious side of hers]. It helps him understand her better and care more for her sake. In fact, SPOILERS, at the end, it is Blomkvist that comes to the rescue, finding her near dead and calling the ambulance.
Honestly, I liked this one better than the first movie. This one had a bit more of an edge to it than the first in the series. There was one action sequence where a guy was driving down a sidewalk to follow someone who had captured Lisbeth's girlfriend - pretty exciting. :-)
I cannot think of anything else to say about this movie, so rating!
4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe
used a bit more to the movie.
4/5 - I found this movie to be a bit edgy without being too dark. The first one had been much darker than this one, even while telling the story. This one told the story, had a pretty straight plotline (that was easy to understand), and a simple theme [trying to find the true murderer while trying to help a friend].
I would not recommend this one for children, since it is rated R and it does have family fight-to-the-death fights. However, if you watch the first Millenium movie and managed to have a sliver of interest in the characters, you should watch the second movie.
0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.
1/5 – Barely worth any time.
2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the
attention a little.
3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have
used more.
4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe
used a bit more to the movie.
5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around – characters,
music, theme, storyline, etc.
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" released in the USA in December 2011 is a remake of the Swedish movie "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" released in January 2009, both based on the book written by Stieg Larsson.
Music:
Not much, though the opening was really Bond-like and not really related to the film. Here:
Mind you, this music opening is prettywicked awesome but still, aside seeing the face of Lisbeth (the main character), there really is not much relating to the movie itself. Maybe the book would explain it better?
Aside this opening, and the closing credits, the music was not really noticeable to me.
Harriet Vanger - a gal who disappeared 40 years ago at the age of 16
Henrik Vanger - the guy who wants to know what happened to Harriet Vanger, former CEO of Vanger Company, uncle to Harriet and Martin, employer of Blomkvist
Dirch Frode - a guy who works for Henrik (lawyer?)
Martin Vanger - Harriet's brother, current CEO of Vanger Company
Plotline:
Same as the 2009 movie in the sense that Mikael Blomkvist was charged with libel against Hans-Erik Wennerstrom, Lisbeth Salander researches Blomkvist's life for the security company that she works for, Henrik Vanger and Dirch Frode ask for Blomkvist's help to solve Harriet Vanger's case, and eventually (with Lisbeth) Blomkvist manages to solve the case. {For those that do not know about this movie, a young girl at the age of 16 disappeared from a corporate family named Vanger and their owned island. Forty years later, one family member is still wanting to know what happened to her.}
However, the movies have a few slight details different between them. [SPOILERS]
* Relationships between Lisbeth and others:
-First Social Worker- In the 2009 movie, Lisbeth learned about her social worker's attack through the social worker's company [phone call.] In the 2011 movie, she learned about it because she stopped by his place to spend time with him (once a month) but he was collapsed on the ground potentially due to a stroke. She, later in the movie, ended up visiting with him to tell him that she got a new social worker and that she found someone that would be approved of for a friend.Difference addressed in Swedish movie "The Girl Who Played With Fire" 2009.
-Second Social Worker- In the 2011 movie, Lisbeth tattooed the social worker's stomach but warned the guy that she would kill him if she found him with another girl (willingly or not) or if he did not give her a good review in the monthly review, she would kill him. “Stop visiting tattoo removal websites or I’ll do it again. [Points to his forehead] Right here.” In the 2009 movie, she tattoed the guy's stomach and we did not hear from him again.Difference addressed in Swedish movie "The Girl Who Played With Fire" 2009.
-Mother/Father- In the 2009 movie, Lisbeth visited her mother at the home that her mother was interred at { "I didn't know she had a daughter" said a nurse} and Lisbeth's issue with her father was shown in flashbacks. In the 2011 movie, Lisbeth's mother was not shown and there were no flashbacks dealing with her father.
* Lisbeth's Past:
-The 2009 movie has flashbacks about what happened when she was a kid, dealing with her father, and she was able to talk with her mother ("I'm sorry I didn't find a better father for you.").
- In the 2011 movie, Lisbeth just told Blomkvist what happened, no flare to it. The security company also poo-pooed her past saying “Her
records have been sealed. She’s a ward of the state.She’s had a rough life.”.
* Blomkvist's Life:
- The 2011 movie showed his daughter and showed/talked about his relation with his magazine Millenium co-worker. It also had the daughter, heading to Bible camp, reveal that the numbers in the booklet were Bible references [Leviticus], as compared to Lisbeth revealing it to Blomkvist via email in the 2009 version.
- The 2009 movie just said that he had had relations with his magazine Millenium co-worker; she was not around.
* Lisbeth's Work:
- In the 2011 movie, Lisbeth had already started investigating into Wennerstrom's life before being approached by Blomkvist. In the 2009 movie, we are not told anything about her researching Wennerstrom until the end when she [SPOILERS] steals money from his accounts.
- In the 2011 movie, Lisbeth had already stopped investigating into Blomkvist by the time that he came looking for her. In the 2009 movie, she was still hacked into his computer, which allowed her to help Blomkvist with the Bible references.
There were a near-dozen things that I did not like about the 2011 movie, compared to the 2009 movie.
1. "I need a research assistant," Blomkvist said to Frode. Well, if Lisbeth had the ability to stay hacked into his computer, we would not have had to ask for an assistant because, in the 2009 movie, he had to ask who the emailer was. I prefer the 2009 over this because it gave Blomkvist the look of a competant researcher (without needing to look for help).
2. “I am psychotic” Lisbeth says to the second social worker. I personally think that this phrase undermined her mystery, put her in a box or under a label. Let the audience decide for themselves if she is psychotic.
3. Blomkvist had a stray cat that he took care of at the hut near the Vangers. Thought it was a random detail but the cat was murdered brutally and left in front of Blomkvist's hut, most likely as a warning sign. Kinda like saying "if you do not stop your investigation, we will kill you too". As if the person shooting at him when he is out-and-about [this version he was investigating Gottfried's place and the 2009 version he was going for a morning jog].
4. Adding victims to the plotline - one girl seemed to be added just to recognize the Vanger killer in the photo from the parade. The Vanger killer (at the parade) had a school uniform on, not a blue sweater, and the girl was a classmate from that school. Maybe the others that were not mentioned in the 2009 movie were in the book, but I don't know.
5. The pictures from the parade - Lisbeth had to mention the woman's photos (to see what Harriet saw), whereas in the 2009 movie, Blomkvist figured that out himself. With Lisbeth having to mention the woman photographer behind Harriet, it knocks down Blomkvist even more as a researcher.
6. Past victims - This version had only a quick mention of the incidences and a few photos (not closely seen). I think that the 2009 movie did it better because they actually went out and researched the murders, learning from talking with people from around the murder locations. It is one thing to hear about a murdered woman found in a barn, another to see a flashback and hear the tale about her death.
7. How Blomkvist ended at Martin's place - In the 2009 movie, Blomkvist broke into Harald's place to confront him (because he thought that Harald was the one that had been shooting at him). Since Harald was a kind, old man that had no visitors, that was out of the picture. To get Blomkvist to Martin's place, they had Blomkvist break into Martin's place. There was an unlocked door, since the island was mostly owned by Vangers and since Martin's place was up on a hill, so Blomkvist went in and took a knife in hand in case Martin would attack him. Well, of course Martin comes home and Blomkvist is not able to vacate the premise without Martin seeing it. Martin invites him in for a drink and ends up holding a gun at Blomkvist. Let's go to the basement, through a few badge-only security doors. Ya know, when you get caught being on the suspect's place, get out as soon as you can and don't sit down for drinks, especially if it gets awkward. Oh and drop my knife, if you please, because that's my knife (pretty much is what Martin says). Really? Okay.... Not well planned out for this section of the movie. Unless it was originally that way in the book, I did not like this.
8. Lisbeth was going to kill Martin, after getting permission to do so from Blomkvist, after his car crash but as she was walking over to the vehicle, the vehicle exploded in a firey boom. It is better that she did not have the chance to have the decision to kill him or not, but the 'I have the ability to kill him' emotion was not necessarily a high-quality for her. Then again, maybe she wanted to kill him because he had killed so many women and had tried to kill Blomkvist [protect the sex-friend]. But her asking for permission also upset me because that seemed against her character, having seen her do what she did with the thief earlier and the second social worker. Maybe it was a change of heart for her, but I don't know.
9. "The Rebecca Case" - The cop said that all cops have a Rebecca case, one cold case that they keep returning to so they can see if they can crack it (even though time is passing). Having seen the 2009 movie, I knew that case that he mentioned was BJ, which gave them a hard time to figure out in the 2009 movie. In the 2011 movie, the initials for that murder were RJ for Rebecca.
10. I didn't like where Harriet ended up. It was interesting that she did not live in London, in the 2009 version, but even cooler living in Australia. In the 2011 version, Harriet ended up living in London [both versions having her live under Anita's name, which 2011 says was possible because Anita got married].
11. After the robbery of Wennerstrom's money (and Wennerstrom's death), Lisbeth tries to continue a relationship with Blomkvist but finds him with his co-worker from Millenium magazine. I did not like this because it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth at the end of the movie. This ending made the movie seem final, like there would not be any hope of a further movie (though the book series is 3 books long). In the 2009 version, Blomkvist sees Lisbeth in her costume of her dealings with the Wennerstrom money robbery [via a security camera picture] and he smiles, and she walks away in real life (alone but doing her thing).
There were a few changes in the 2011 version that I liked over the 2009 version.
1. The 2011 movie showed a bit of the cops' original investigation of Harriet's disappearance, including the watercraft and the interrogation of the family.
2. The 2011 movie had an extra photographer of the accident of the bridge, which should have been noted since Harriet's disappearance happened within 24 hours of the accident on the bridge. However, they never show those pictures, as far as I could tell.
3. In the 2009 movie, Martin said that he had had a girl in the basement when he, Blomkvist and a lady had dinner previously (how long ago, I don't know). However, in the 2011 movie, you can actually hear the slight wail during that meal. I liked that because it gave a slight creepy feeling to the house and helped set the mood towards Martin. However, it was a very slight sound and slight conversation about it, so it could be hidden away if one did not pay attention to it.
4. In the 2011 movie, it went into detail about how Harriet got out of Sweden, under Anita's care {with Anita's passport}. That was good to learn about, since they didn't really deal with it much in the 2009 version.
5. In the 2011 movie, it showed Lisbeth researching into and infiltrating Wennerstrom's company, and stealing the money from Wennerstrom. [However, it was bad that Blomkvist did not learn about the stealing, like in the 2009 movie. It just did not give a good ending.]
6. Harriet told how Gottfried had gotten absolutely sloshed with alcohol and bragged to her about the murders he did, the Bible references, etc. This explains why and how she got the information for the murders and references, which the 2009 version does not have.
A few more things that caught my attention [still more SPOILERS]:
•Martin enjoying what he does – “You can’t be a sloppy technician. Can’t drink to excess like he did. This takes discipline. There’s a science with all the details, the planning, the execution, and the clean-up.”
•“It’s hard to believe that the fear of offending is stronger than the fear of pain but you know what? It is.” said by Martin.
•“Satisfying mine requires more talent.” Sexual fulfillment through torturing others and killing others.
I don't know what to say about these three things except that they kinda sounded like a mix between Dexter and a sex fiend of some sort. Science to murders - Dexter; isn't it though?
Rating:
2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the
attention a little.
3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have
used more.
2.5 out of 5 - I think that this movie was pathetic compared to the 2009 version, but it kept attention. It was good but sucked at the same time. Of the two versions, see the 2009 version! The things that they changed for the 2011 version did not improve the movie from the 2009 version and left a few more holes in the "complete movie" feeling, hence the low rate. Blomkvist was not the researcher that he should have been, as a magazine writer, and Lisbeth was not an independent person like she should have been [seemed a bit more of a 2D character than 3D character, pity for the one that had been through a lot instead of letting the character grow].
By itself, I think this would have been a 3/5 star but compared to the 2009 version it is a 2.5/5.
0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.
1/5 – Barely worth any time.
2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the
attention a little.
3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have
used more.
4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe
used a bit more to the movie.
5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around – characters,
music, theme, storyline, etc.
Before seeing the 2011 movie "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", I decided to watch the original movie released in 2009. This series is based on the Millenium book series by Stieg Larsson, a Swedish writer (that passed away in 2004 according to wikipedia).
I tried to watch this movie with subtitles but I could not find it. So I went with a (poorly) dubbed version, since this movie was originally in Swedish.
Anyways, this is a murder-solving drama thriller. At first, I thought it would be more of a "let's investigate into the company" kind of movie but it was changed to something else later.
Plotline:
A journalist from the magazine Millenium named Mikael Blomkvist is charged with libel against one of the big corporate jerks in the area [billionaire industrialist Hans-Erik Wennerström]. He is declared guilty in court, will have to pay a slightly hefty fee, and will have to serve 3 months in prison. The sentence for prison is set in the future.
Someone other than Wennerstrom takes interest in Blomkvist and orders information on him. Turns out that the 'researcher' is a female named Lisbeth Salander, a 24 yr old hacker. Lisbeth gives the interested party information on Blomkvist saying that she thinks Blomkvist was set up, regarding Wennerstrom.
The interested party turns out to be a member of a rich family named Vanger. The former CEO of Vanger Corporation, Henrik Vanger, wants Blomkvist to research into what happened to his niece. Harriet had disappeared 40 years ago when she was roughly 18. When the family noticed that she had disappeared, they had the cops search the island, the area around the island [dragging nets] and whatnot to try to find her. Many told Henrik to give up, that she was not coming back, but he had a suspicion that either she was alive or someone was sending a remembrance to him for her - before she disappeared, she would give him a pressed flower for his birthday every year and these continued to come to him over the 40 years that she had been disappeared.
Blomkvist works on researching the case for Henrik and Lisbeth continues to hack his computer, watching his research. She sends him a message to break the case because she finds it interesting, and he finds out about her through Vanger's lawyer [also finding out about how she hacked his computer].
Through Lisbeth's computing skills and photographic memory and with Blomkvist's persistent researching skills, they come across some very VERY disturbing clues about the case. These clues involve the Nazis in the Vanger family and a very dark past for two of the Vanger men. {SPOILERS} In the end, they find one of the culprits to the case, raping and killing women, and they find Harriet [not dead because she had run away from the raping/killing Vanger man].
Content:
This is a movie NOT for the faint of heart. Seriously.
Lisbeth is forced to perform a blowjob on her guardian [she is on parole for something they did not really discuss in the movie], beaten up in the train station, and raped by her guardian. She also revenges back on the guardian for being a perverted sadistic pig by tattooing his stomach with the words "I'm a sadistic pig, a pervert and a rapist".
Blomkvist is also shot at by a Vanger at one time, whom we assume to be the psychotic Harald Vanger, but probably was a different Vanger. Harald Vanger, later, also tried to shoot Blomkvist in Harald's house for breaking-and-entering.
The women that were dug up in the investigation were tortured, raped, and mutilated. All with Jewish names and their deaths referred to in the Old Testament [if a woman is found approaching an animal (sexually), then both the woman and the animal is to be killed].
Hetero sex between Blomkvist and Salander; homo sex between Salander and a woman.
Action:
There was a good amount of action, but not as 'action-y' as action movies like "Die Hard". One bike-car chase. Most of the plotline was rather intellectual, trying to figure out what happened to Harriet - going through photos, going through letters, going through accounting records.
Rating:
3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.
4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.
3.5 out of 5
This movie was alright. It kept the attention and the "oh what is going to happen next" was wonderful. However, some of the content was unexpected and far too raw to enjoy. That content was disturbing.
The idea of digging through the wealthy's dirty laundry, and finding the kind of garbage that they found, is intriguing but not to the point of "hey, check out this movie". Sometimes, you should just leave someone else's bad past alone, especially if it is not your own.
Sure, Lisbeth was mysterious but I don't think that it was to the point of "wow, never thought of that" or "check this out!".
I wonder what the 2011 version is like, compared to this, and what the other 2 movies of the trilogy will be like.
