John’s Movie Musings

If you haven’t heard of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, where have you been?  On a recent flight, I saw three different people reading the books.  And those were just the Analogs.  That same flight, I wrapped up book one on my Kindle app with an air of smugness towards my literary technophobes.  Thankfully, I finished before I had to turn off my book prior to landing.

You’re probably also aware that the series hails from Sweden, like Ikea and fjords (not really.  Never ask a Swede about their fjords).  Did you know the Swedes have already made the series into movies?  If you’re the type that prefers to wait for the movie, but also likes to read, you can watch these with subtitles and do both.  Win!

Despite the titles (as cool as they are), the stories don’t revolve around a dragon-tattooed girl who plays with fire and hornets.  The original title is translated as Men Who Hate Women.  That’s the theme that runs constant through the series and should answer your questions about why Lisbeth Salander (said girl) isn’t as central as you think she should be.  You see, back in the day, the author witnessed a gang rape of a 15-yr old (also named Lisbeth).  He was so haunted by his inaction, he kept a strong theme of sexual violence against women through the series.  Perhaps as a way to deal with that past regret.

Which brings me to another point.  You could easily place these into the Dark Thriller category (also called the WTF Did I Just Watch? genre) like Se7en or Oldboy.  I tend to enjoy these movies and foreign films offer a different, sometimes better, vibe than what we get out of Hollywood.  But remember that European movies have different standards when it comes to sex and violence.  Be warned.  The American versions start this December with Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig.  We’ll see how those turn out.

By far, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the best of the series.  Parts two and three are really one story and have a different feel to them.  As my friend put it, “They’re like a bad James Bond knock-off with a super-villain”  I did enjoy the other two (probably the characters more than the story), but my friend makes a good point.

All three movies are on Netflix Instant.  If gritty, dark, disturbing thrillers are your thing, check ‘em out.  Or just wait and see what Hollywood does with them this year.

Grade: A