Directed by: Neils Arden Opley
Starring: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Lena Endre, Peter Haber
Review: This is a very hard movie to review. The movie was brutal at parts and somewhat hard to watch. I had heard lots of very good things about this movie and the majority of them were absolutely true.
The movie tells two parallel story lines that eventually intersect to come to the ultimate conclusion. One storyline involves Lisbeth Salander who works for a security company as a high tech background investigator/hacker, that they call a "researcher." Lisbeth has come from an interesting background and has quite the interesting appearance. She has been tapped to lean everything she can about Michael Blomqvist and whether or not his allegations of a large companies CEO are true.
Lisbeth also has a troubled past and is currently on parole. This means she has to deal with her parole counselor, which isn't a problem until she she gets a call letting her know that she will have to switch counselors. This leads her to have to be counseled by a complete sleazeball that sexually assaults and rape's her. This is a very brutal part of the movie and makes it hard to watch. However, it does show some insight in Lesbeth and how she has an iron will that can overcome anything. Lisbeth has been through this type of torment before and can deal with it, even if her "dealing with it" is a little messed up.
The second story centers around the man Lisbeth was charged to get information on Michael Blomqvist. Lisbeth has been investigating Michael for a while now related to his investigation of the aforementioned CEO. She seemed to see it fit to continue peeking in on Michaels computer after her job is done and finding unrelated information that she can help him out with. This is one of the parts where the movie kind of slipped away for me. There is no clear reason why Lisbeth continues to track Michael, other than curiosity, but the person Lisbeth is shown to be does not appear to be the person to care, and her job is done.
That aside Lisbeth ends up teaming up with Michael as they are charged to trying to solve a 40 year old murder. This leads down a very windy road with a very detailed story that is well written and well put together. It is interesting to see the story unfold and there are definitely a couple different twists you don't see coming. The only thing I will say is that at times the story comes together much too coincidentally and it makes the realism start to fade. I suppose it's all in the name of a good movie, which this is, but it takes a hit in the rating for something like this that is big for me in movies.
All in all, this was a well constructed and very tense, at times hard to watch, and very well made film that is definitely worth your time.
Jeff, great film, thanks for the compelling review. This was a truly disturbing movie, one that sticks to you for weeks after. But having now watched the film, I feel you missed a subtle, yet key element that explains some of your displeasure. Rewatch the potion where Lisbeth delivers her report about Michael in the beginning. Listen to the way she talks about him, and then think about this in context with her personal history with men, father issues and general psychosis. Then consider what she discovers about the case Michael is hired to solve. I feel like in that context, it becomes clear why she tries to help him.
ReplyDeleteI agree that there are other elements that are just a bit too convenient, but I feel that is just a part of the whole book-to-movie process. I am still deciding if I really want to try and fill in those gaps. It may not be worth revisiting the rapes in gory, written detail.