Six hundred and forty four pages. Six hundred and forty four. That’s the length of Steig Larsson’s worldwide bestseller, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and I blew through it in a week. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of those people that read a book a week or something, I’m not a crazy reader. I guess I can partially attribute it to the fact that I was a lazy bum this summer and didn’t have a job. But a larger portion I attribute to the sheer brilliance of the novel itself. I mean, the books gotta be good if you blow through six hundred pages in a week, right? The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was truly one of the most captivating novels I’ve ever read.
There are a lot of subplots to the book, but I’ll try and summarize as generally and simply as I can. Mikael Blomkvist (the dude who wrote the book is Swedish, excuse the weird names) is a political journalist who was recently convicted for libel. Libel is basically when you attempt to discredit a company, or portray them in a negative light. He exposes a corrupt businessman, but doesn’t have enough evidence for his claim. Discouraged and stripped of his reputation, Mikael considers leaving his position as head of his political magazine Millenium. Mikael is offered a job opportunity by Henrik Vanger, an old, wealthy businessman who is head of Vanger Industries. He hires Mikael to investigate the disappearance of his sixteen year old niece, Harriet, who has been presumed dead since the late 1960’s. Mikael soon discovers that the Vanger family has a dark history; one that includes Nazism, abuse, etcetera. He is soon joined by investigator Lisbeth Salandar, a socially withdrawn computer hacker. Salander is an emotionally damaged woman (having been sexually abused), but has a tough persona. Mikael and Lisbeth join forces to find out what happened to young Harriet Vanger, and come across some grisly discoveries in the process.
In the summer I sat in my backyard wearing shorts and a tank top reading the novel, and months later I sat in a cold movie theatre bundled up in my jacket. Nearly half a year after reading the book, I sat in the movie theatre watching the film adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I first have to establish that I’m slightly biased against the director, David Fincher. David Fincher is very hit-or-miss with me. I loved his films such as The Social Network, Panic Room, and Seven. I personally however was not a huge fan of Zodiac or Fight Club (yes, I didn’t like Fight Club that much, get over it). I was slightly skeptical going into the movie, and worried that it would not match the brilliance of the novel. I had watched the 2009 Swedish version of Dragon Tattoo and enjoyed it, and I hoped this would meet my expectations as well. So ok, my verdict…
It was weird. Well, the book was weird too. I liked it, but it was weird. The opening credits sequence is a bit…out there (you’ll see what I mean if you watch it). Cool, but out there. The movie corresponded to the book wonderfully, it left out a few plot lines but they weren’t entirely necessary to begin with. Daniel Craig, whom you may know from Casino Royale and Cowboys and Aliens, quite accurately portrays the character Mikael Blomkvist in my opinion. I feel like he looks a little young to be Mikael, but his performance was well done (and you have to love those piercing blue eyes). But the show was stolen by the potential Oscar nominee Rooney Mara, who plays the memorable role of Lisbeth Salander. She was honestly really dedicated to the role, and I appreciate that. A little background on Mara: she played a brief role in The Social Network as Mark Zuckerberg’s ex-girlfriend. She is the daughter of Timothy Christopher Mara, vice president of player evaluation for the New York Giants, and granddaughter of Wellington Mara, who was co-owner of the Giants. She’s basically football royalty.
The twenty six year old actress had to undergo a tremendous transformation to play Lisbeth. Lisbeth’s character is described as being extremely petite and having short, choppy black hair. She has numerous piercings on her face, including her eyebrow, nose, and lip. She has another piercing…not sure if I can mention it in the school newspaper though (you catch my drift). And the thing was, all those piercings Mara had to get were legit. Mara had to actually get poked with a bunch of holes to play the character. That’s dedication, man. Lisbeth’s character wears leather, androgynous clothing. She speaks in a very robotic, emotionless tone. She rides a motorcycle. In the role, she’s not the most attractive of people out there…she’s kinda freaky looking. But if you have a few minutes Google her and see what she actually looks like, she’s actually pretty attractive. In regards to her performance: it’s a difficult role to play, but Mara really nailed it. I have a lot of respect for her to take on such a hard, unique role.
Ultimately, I thought the movie was quite good but did not quite live up to the book. I’m biased though, I mean, having read the book first it’s my obvious preference. The style of David Fincher was…interesting, to say the least. It definitely fit the tone of the plot but I’m not sure if I was liking the style all too much. That wasn’t enough to ruin the movie for me though; the film was carried but such wonderful actors and an enticing plotline.
I highly suggest seeing The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. It’s rated R for some pretty intense sexual violence sequences, so if you’re under seventeen you need parent’s permission (I would say sneak in but I’m not sure if I can be promoting that here!). Personally I would advise you to read the book first, because it might be a little confusing having not gotten all the details behind everything. If you go in cold though, you should be able to figure things out ok. So yeah, that’s my (very long winded) opinion on The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I’m really hoping Rooney Mara gets that Oscar nomination!
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