The girl with the dragon tattoo

Year of release : 2011

Run time : 2h38min

Genre : Thriller / Mystery / Crime

Cast : Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Stellan Skarsgard, Robin Wright, Christopher Plummer, Joely Richardson

Director : David Fincher

The movie is based on the 2005 novel by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson,and is a remake of the Swedish movie of the same name from 2009,which to me was better.

Set in Sweden, the movie opens in Stockholm, where journalist Mikael Blomkvist is trying to get back to normal after a libel suit against him.

As his professional life is damaged, the wealthy Henrik Vanger asks him to look into a 40 year old disappearance in return promising evidence against the man who filed the libel suit against him.

Henrik wants him to find out what happened to his niece who disappeared when she was 14.Everybody thinks her dead. He tells him every year for his birthday he receives the same kind of pressed flower she used to give him, and he thinks the k1ller is taunting him.

Henrik offers him a cottage on his property, and Mikael starts the investigation.

Lisbeth is an investigator and a hacker, who's legal guardian has health problems due to old age, and she is appointed a new one, who tells her if she wants him to give her any money and not have her institutionalized , she has to do all the nasty things he comes up with.

After he brutally r@pes her ,she does the same to him, threatening to make the video she filmed of him r@ping her public,if he ever lays hands on anyone ,and doesn't give her good monthly reviews.

Mikael and Lisbeth are brought together to work on the case,and is not an easy task,as they are watched, Henrik almost dies, and maybe the ones they rely on helping them with the case are foes.

Although most of the characters start as likeable, they soon become unlikeable, even the leads, because things as such : Mikael's marriage ended because he had an affair with his boss, with whom he's still with, but who's husband didn't leave her after finding out!

Mikael and Lisbeth start an affair (while he still might be with his boss), and it looks more like he goes with it, because she wants it, not because he wants to be with her. At the end of the movie is even more evident, as once the case is over,he's not interested in spending time with her, and is back with his married girlfriend. Same goes for other characters,like the legal guardian who uses his position to force himself upon Lisbeth whenever he feels like it.

Lisbeth is antisocial.

I found the movie a bit hard to follow due to the names,the so many characters, and the fact it takes place in the past and the present, but that was never an issue for me, the issue here being, the actors playing the young versions of the old ones not looking at all like each other, having the opposite face structure,like for example, Julian Sands plays the younger version of Christopher Plummer's character. They look nothing alike!

I also thought there were way too many things happening,too many plots.

I liked the title sequence,but I felt it didn't match the vibe of the movie at all,as the song is upbeat and not about whatever is happening in the movie.The title sequence,although, I'm guessing is supposed to be Lisbeth's nightmare or inner turmoil, doesn't match, first of all,because of the visual which is too dark, with the audio,second of all, because there are many characters, and at least two leads, her and Mikael, and when you have more than one lead, they should both be in the title sequence or make it about what the movie deals with,in this case,the missing women.

Also, the title sequence looks very futuristic, which again, has nothing to do with the movie, which takes place in the present and the past!

The soundtrack was written by the same team who worked with David Fincher on Gone Girl, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. I felt the movie was mostly silent,so the soundtrack is almost unnoticeable.

The actors were fine.

The movie grossed 232.6 million dollars against a budget of 90 million, and received positive reviews from critics, who loved the acting of the two leads, the directing, the score and visuals.

Cinema Score audiences rated the movie an A, on an A+ to F scale.

The National Board of Review (who gave Mara the award for Best Breakthrough Performance) had it on their Top 10 Films of 2011.

The movie received many award nominations, including 2 Golden Globe nominations, winning the Grammy for the score (written by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross), and the Oscar for Best Film Editing, Rooney Mara being nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress.

Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Johnny Depp and Viggo Mortensen were considered to play Mikael. Emma Watson, Kristen Stewart, Vanessa Hudgens, Natalie Portman, Carey Mulligan, Jennifer Lawrence, Keira Knightley, Scarlett Johansson, Anne Hathaway and Eva Green , among many others, were considered to play Lisbeth!

Viewer discretion is advised,as the movie contains nudity and violence, against women and men.

The movie is free with ads on ITVX, TVNZ+; 30 days free on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads; 7 days free on ITVX Premium, MGM Amazon Channel; for rent / sale on Amazon, AppleTv, Fandango at Home.

Rating : Worth a watch !