Alright, I’m just gonna say it, girls are kicking some major ass at the cinema this week and I LOVE it. After seeing the epicness that is Kick-Ass, I came out of the theatre secretly wishing I was eleven-year-old “Hit Girl”, with her cool knife tricks and her foul mouth, and all of her crazy gun wielding. Damn, she’s awesome.
But then I saw The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and I realized the lead character of that movie, Lisbeth Salander, is Hit Girl. Only she’s the real life version, er, the real life version that exists in the movies. Trade the purple costume for a biker jacket and piercings, double her age and give her the ability to be a super computer hacker instead of a super hero and you’ve got the girl who steals the show in Swedish thriller Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
The film, which is based on the first story in a best selling trilogy of books by late author, Stieg Larsson, became the highest grossing movie in Sweden’s cinematic history. Directed by Niels Arden Oplev, the film tells the story of a recently disgraced investigative journalist named Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) and his unlikely partner Lisbeth Salander (the fierce Noomi Rapace) who, through a series of crazy events, end up investigating the case of a young woman gone missing for the last 40 years.
As far as crime thrillers go, this one ranks high. It’s unpredictable and suspenseful, which makes for an entertaining and exciting ride the entire way through, and the pay off the audience gets in the end is a nice tie up to an emotionally charged mystery case.
But what makes this movie great and takes it beyond just your average thriller is our introduction to Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth. She’s interesting, tortured, brilliant and fearless which is quite different from any other female character I’ve seen this year.
Before seeing the film I had heard about David Fincher’s remake – the filmmaker is currently casting the American version as I write this – and I was displeased to say the least. I’m not one who is a fan of taking a movie that’s been done well the first time around and re-doing it, simply because some people can’t handle reading subtitles.
However, after seeing The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I can’t wait for Fincher’s take on the tale, stylistically I’m betting it will be incredible. And if I’m being totally honest, my only issue while watching this film was in fact the subtitles. Sometimes I found the emotional impact lost in a scene because I knew what the character was going to say before he/she said it – kind of ruins a bit of the fun.
I recommend this one big time, if you can’t make it to the theatre then I certainly suggest renting it once it becomes available, plus, seeing the original before the Americanized version hits in 2012 probably isn’t a bad idea.
