Trailer:
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 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 pretty wicked 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.
Notable Characters:
Mikael Blomkvist - magazine research writer
Lisbeth Salander - hacker researcher, Blomkvist's assistant
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:
-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.
By itself, I think this would have been a 3/5 star but compared to the 2009 version it is a 2.5/5.
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