Day 44 -- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Released: February 27th, 2009

Starring: Noomi Rapace, Michael Nyqvist

Writer/Director: Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg/Niels Arden Oplev

Description: A journalist is aided in his search for a woman who has been missing -- or dead -- for forty years by a young female hacker.

[Review may contain spoilers. Please watch movie before reading, unless you don't care. Most of these films have already been released for a while, so they should be readily available.]

***

For some reason, subtitles are off putting for some movie goers, which always confuses me. The excuse I always get is, 'if I wanted to read, I'd open a book'.  This is completely short-sighted, and completely shuts you out from some great movie experiences. 

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Swedish version)" is one of those films. Adapted from the Stieg Larsson classic trilogy, the movie follows investigative journalist, Mikael Blomkvist (Nyqvist), as he digs into a 40-year-old missing person case. With the help of hacker extraordinaire, Lisbeth Salander (Rapice), Bloomkvist begins to unravel a deep, dark secret of a wealthy Swedish family.

I usually don't mind spoiling films during this project because they are mostly terrible movies, but this one, I feel the need to keep it a little more vague. The mystery is one of the best I've seen in years, and deserved to be enjoyed. It's one of the few that I didn't guess from the beginning, and delighted me more than anything. I enjoyed the fact that I was figuring out the murders at the same time as Mikael and Lisbeth.

But what the movie should be more remembered for is the introduction of the most powerful female characters in the last decade. Lisbeth's ability to not need or rely on her male counterpart is a change from most films we see in America. This is not a feminist point, but she is Blomkvist's equal through out the film, and at times she takes the lead. And it's not just in her scenes with Blomkvist, it's also when we are first introduced to her in the movie's first act, and she is shown getting revenge on a sadistic guardian. It was refreshing to see this type of character on the screen.

Along with the way they wrote Lisbeth, the writers also tapped into the one thing that excites me: slow storytelling. The running length of 152 minutes would lead many filmmakers to improperly pace the movie, but Oplev does a nice job of blending the introductions of our main characters together. By mixing the two stories, the film doesn't stay too long on one character, and that keeps you from getting bored. Even during the longer second act, the reveals in the mystery are perfectly placed so that they immediately reset your losing interest gauge.

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is on the same level as "Letters from Iwo Jima" for me. They both convey a beautifully crafted story without using English as it's main language, and relying heavily on subtitles. If you still have your doubts about watching a subtitled movie, I highly recommend renting these two films, and if they don't change your mind, then you are hopeless, and can go back to watching "Twilight".

Rating: 8/10 -- If you enjoyed David Fincher's remake, then I highly recommend checking out the original. One of the best movies in the last five years, and should be enjoyed whether or not you like subtitles. Rapice's Lisbeth should be hailed as on of the greatest female character in film over the last 25 years.