Saturday, December 31, 2011

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 3.5 stars

If you read all 3 of the Stieg Larsson novels then you'll really enjoy this movie.  If you didn't read them, you might find it confusing but you'll still like the movie.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the first of the trilogy that will be released in the coming years.   Daniel Craig does a great job playing Mikael Blomkvist the magazine editor who is convicted of slander at the beginning of the movie.  An even better job is done by Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander. This is a difficult and intense role that would have spoiled the movie if not done well.  In the Swedish version of this movie Lisbeth was played by Noomi Rapace who did a phenomenal job in that role.  I didn't think anyone could do it better but I actually think Rooney is the better Lisbeth.  Noomi's american film preview is in Sherlock Holmes where she is in a minor role and gives a very forgettable performance.

I would definitely like to see this movie again in the theater because it is very well done and enjoyable to watch.  Even though I've read the books and have seen the Swedish version of the movie I still had a hard time keeping up with the plot and characters.  For those of you who are purists, they did deviate from the book but only to keep the movie from running three hours.  The only thing that they changed that I didn't agree with is at the end of the film.  The overall ending was the same but they did one extra thing that I didn't think enhanced the film.  This movie is definitely in my top 5 of the year.

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