User Reviews

Quality over quantity: fewer pages, greater clarity. I never approached the cinematic adaptations of 'Millennium' with particularly high expectations. My experience as a reader of the novels was rather negative: their density, excessive detail, and generally heavy narrative made the reading process more exhausting than engaging. For that reason, I came to the film with a defensive sense of caution. However, the adaptation ultimately dismantles any initial prejudice. What surprises me most is its extraordinary fidelity, especially in its visual and atmospheric essence. Almost disconcertingly, the images projected on screen match with near-millimetric precision those that had formed in my mind while reading: the faces, the spaces, the coldness, and the way each scene is executed. It feels as though I had already seen the film before, despite never having watched it. The screenplay shows notable intelligence in condensing an especially dense narrative without betraying its spirit. The literary material is reorganized and made accessible, avoiding complexity that would otherwise drift into confusion. In this sense, the film does more than adapt—it clarifies. Where the novel disperses or becomes overwhelming, the cinematic staging provides cohesion and readability, making the experience far more fluid and engaging. The performances are one of the film’s strongest pillars. Noomi Rapace’s portrayal of Lisbeth Salander is absolutely decisive to the film’s success. Magnetic, unsettling, and deeply human, it is difficult to imagine this work without her presence. Michael Nyqvist brings solidity and balance, and together they establish a dynamic in which the protagonism is shared evenly, without either overshadowing the other. The cinematography does not aim to dazzle or draw attention to itself. It is functional and narrative by design—deliberately restrained, offering clarity, coherence, and a tone consistent with the story’s emotional coldness, ultimately serving the storytelling effectively. The film tackles complex and uncomfortable themes such as racism, misogyny, and violence. These subjects are treated with severity, but their impact lies not in explicit shock value, rather in how organically they are integrated into the narrative. Screenplay, direction, and mise-en-scène work in unison to present these issues firmly, without resorting to sensationalism. The cinematic version achieves something the novel did not: it sparks interest—and, more importantly, sustains it. It not only translates Stieg Larsson’s universe effectively, but for certain viewers, it significantly improves the overall experience.

A crime/psycho thriller based on an adaptation of a novel that the director does well in this difficult film. This film is one of the films of recent years, after which two films were made in the continuation of this film. This movie has received a lot of attention and is suitable for those interested in the psychology of cinema. The soundtrack tries to create an atmosphere of dread and although it succeeds in this, the soundtrack seems to be overdone.

I certainly must not have been the only one to discover this film via it's American "twin brother". I did not read the book to judge how the adaptation did it justice, but I have faith that it would have been excellent. Skillfully directed by Neil Arden Oplev, this Swedish film was also my first contact with Scandinavian cinema. I do not know if it's worthwhile to dwell on the plot, which begins with the investigation of a disappearance in a very rich and powerful family to give rise to a tense and appealing story of mystery surrounding a murderer of women. It is a dense film, with a lot of tension and characters full of personality and easy to like. Of course, the leading role goes entirely to the unfortunate journalist Mikael Blomkvist and his occasional collaborator Lisbeth Salander, a punk hacker with a past of violence and delinquency. The film knows perfectly how to build a tense and mysterious environment, and play with it to keep the audience watching. The cast has several names in Swedish cinema that are naturally unknown to me because I am far from being a minimal connoisseur of this cinematic universe. Anyway, I really liked Michael Nyqvist's performance, but the extraordinary Noomi Rapace steals all the attention whenever she appears. She is truly talented and has grasped her character with determination, willing to show value. And so it was! Technically, I would like to highlight the excellent quality of cinematography and the work of filming and editing. The film is long, almost three hours long and in some versions (perhaps the most dedicated to TV) it appears divided in two halves ... but it is totally worth it and if the audience is carried away, they will not even feel the time passing. The effects are minimal, but they fulfill their role, the dialogues are excellent and the lines work very well. The sets and costumes, as well as the Swedish landscapes (with or without snow) increase the visual beauty of the whole ensemble. The soundtrack does its job well.

This original swedish film of the Millennium saga was very good, the performances were excellents, including the performance of Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander and the story was thrilling and special although is large still entertain.

Better than the American version with more believable characters but still fairly unappealing.

female protagonist excels as driving the pace & the plot... could almost fill the antagonist role, as well... =^.^=

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is a gripping, shocking thriller. It has amazing performances by Rapace and Nyqvist, a rich, superbly written script, and some of the most graphic torture and **** scenes you will ever see in mainstream cinema. This one of the best films to come out of Sweden in the last 10 years.

The Swedish film, based off of the late Steig Larsson's first book in his Millennium series, is a wonderful beginning to a trilogy of cinema. It is easily seen as a successful task of turning a work of literature into film. It has done Larsson's books a great justice! It is dark, curious, brooding, violent, and thrilling. The settings of the film's scenes were unimaginably dead-on from the book. The character casting and cinematography are astonishing. The financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist, played by Michael Nyqvist, is a mix of wit, steadfastness, and even a edge of humor. He is intelligent, and pairs well with the bright and dynamic Lisbeth. Lisbeth Salander, played by Noomi Rapace, was casted wonderfully if not perfectly. Her edge, look, and body language really brought life to the character of Lisbeth. Lisbeth's past has set her present and maybe even future in the unsteady hands of the corrupt. The two stories of Blomkvist and Salander stand aside, overlap, intertwine, and come together in a wonderful pace. A 40-year old crime is dropped in the lap of Blomkvist to decipher once and for all contending with his own battles in the eyes of politics and financial journalism. Salander, the reserved technology-driven hacker, whom is assigned cases by a security company, is researching Blomkvist. Her life, ruled by her hard past and difficult present, draws you in and doesn't let you go. The two characters come to work together and take on a heavy journey of murders, misogyny, mental illness, revenge, and corruption.

A movie so sick, so boring and so meaning less it will make your head hurt. The girl with the Dragon Tattoo is one of the worst piles of trash I have ever seen. A movie you don't want to see or remember for the rest of your life.

I haven't read the book so I can't tell if that was also such not thrilling. You've got a foreboding but there comes a ending that absolutely doesn't live up to expectations. Seems like Niels Arden Oplev was very unmotivated to make this movie. Noomi Rapace shows what a great actress she is, but the minor actors were hardly ignored in the film. You don't know how the both main actors feel, which may be a clever trick to get you to watch the two sequels. But TGWTDT is a disappointing criminal film with a lame story.

This movie is nothing compared to the American remake. I was thoroughly disappointed with the acting, writing, directing, and the quality of this film.

This film is by far the best in the Swedish trilogy of films. The atmosphere/mood of the movie is really dark and some of the scenes are very hard to sit through. What makes the movie worth sitting through this kind of material (and the whole trilogy) is Noomi Rapace (who should have been nominated for an Oscar). Her excellent performance of the tortured hero, Lisbeth Salander, is movie magic and will be talked about for years to come.

Girl With Dragon Tattoo (2009): Better pacing and editing than Fincher's film, more interesting. The relationship is better developed, otherwise the remake is a shot-for-shot clone of the original.

It was great to see a well made movie from Sweden with original memorable characters and a good story. Although I did find the English version more entertaining with a better/ deeper version of Lisbeth, this movie is still well made and has some deeper plot points. Recommended.

A great film, although hard to watch at times. A highly effective thriller with great pace and plotting, i did not even notice the 150 odd minutes running time. This is not the Sweden of Abba, this is more of a nordic black metal number

This is a good mystery with an excellent human story that imprints itself onto the viewer in ways that have never been done before. Noomi Rapace nails her role and far exceeds what most american actresses are capable of, especially in a physical sense. Cinematics in this movie are good and the locations are adequate. This movie is not amped up in any Hollywood way, it just focuses on the who-dunnit story and the book's characters. Specific details created for the characters and world they live by the book's author are truly unique and come alive through dedicated actors. I appreciated the detail and uniqueness of this movie a lot and would watch it again. Who needs an amped up Hollywood version when all you really need is Noomi Rapace?!! A.

It would be an extraordinary film to me if didn't stick so close to the source material. Watching a thriller film when you know exactly everything that will happen on the next scene is not thrilling at all. This is not an adaptation, it is just a mere copy of the book.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is one of the finest examples of a thrilling murder-mystery ever committed to film. The storytelling is fluid and engaging, the script tight and the dramatic performances superb. The film explores the darkest, most depraved aspects of human nature, and astutely questions our commonly held beliefs about mental illness, morality and redemption. It's a real testament to the skills of leads Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace that they manage to bring such complex, layered characters to life on the big screen, and they make a great double-act, smartly playing off each others' performances to add greater depth and believability to their roles. It's also a mark **** director in Niels Arden Oplev that he keeps the story focussed, and manages to maintain the momentum of the film throughout its 150 minute run-time. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is simply superb - it's smart, energetic, well-crafted and utterly enthralling. The American remake is on the horizon, and while I'm intrigued by any project with David Fincher at the helm, I'm also a little dubious, because there's no way a remake can be this good.

The perfect thriller. It proves you don't need that much money to make a good film, only good ideas and talent. I read there is an American remake going on, but it is almost sure they will destroy the Swedish film just like what happened with "Let me in".

I recently finished the book and upon completion, I just had to see the movie. I thought it was an excellent adaptation considering the amount of material. The cast was superb and the setting was beautiful. I am not sure why America has to remake it, but David Fincher is an excellent director and he can of course change certain elements of the film by adding material that were left out of the Swedish version. Now casting the role of Lisbeth will be challenging because Noonmi Rapace's performance was superb. I do have one HUGE complaint, however. We rented the film from Netflix and watched the previews. Well, to my shock and dismay, the preview began for the SEQUEL, The Girl Who Played With Fire. Before I could react quick enough to locate the remote and hit the menu button, I heard/saw info about one of the major characters. Talk about a spoiler. I am currently reading TGWPWF and am only on about page 160-170. I was sooo disappointed and angry. Why on earth would anyone show the preview for a SEQUEL in the first part of the series??????? Imagine if when The Godfather premiered, the trailer for The Godfather II was shown before the movie. Unbelievable.

The Novelist, Stieg Larsson died in 2004, where none of his MILLENNIUM trilogy has been published yet. There was a tragic story that I found behind the making of those books. When Larsson was 15 years old, he witnessed the gang **** of a young girl. He never forgave himself for failing to help that poor girl at that time. The girl name was Lisbeth. Thiz movie is the first adaptation of those trilogy books. Sometimes, I found myself enjoying so much pleasure by watching European movies like thiz Scandinavian movie. The movie fills with splendid Cinematoraphy. I had ever thought that High Definition (HD) Camera would not be able to accomplishing thiz kind of remarkable views. I was wrong, many nowadays Director are still able to create a great nuance with precise treatment through their HD Cameras, sometimes even better. The movie directed by Niels Arden Oplev. The story tells about the troubled journalist Mikael Blomkvist has to work side by side with a genius punk-goth Hacker, Lisbeth Salander in order to solve a mystery about a missing young girl named Harriet, for the event that had been occurred 40 years ago, as the demand of a billionaire industrialist, Henrik Vanger. I have to mention that Sven-Bertil Taube has made a solid performance as Henrik Vanger. Michael Niqvist is very convincing to create his dual-side character as Mikael Blomkvist. And surely, the most memorable performance is belongs to Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander. I realize that those characters are so difficult to play (especially the two main characters, Blomkvist and Salander) bcoz of their complicated backgrounds. I simply called thiz movie as: Classic thriller with Modern contents. Classic which is making us pay attention to clue by clue to get closer to the hidden villain. It is what Classic thrillers do. Modern which is flooding with audacious elements, such as: The anti-hero characters, ironical sexual abuse scene, unusual moral conflict and many more. I heard that next year, they are remaking thiz movie into Hollywood version. My opinion is: do not expect too much, although The Director will be David Fincher, who is capable to translate dark tone into intriguing crime thrillers like thiz, he has already proved that through SE7EN (1995), FIGHT CLUB (1999), and THE ZODIAC (2005). The newest James Bond, Daniel Craig will be cast as Mikael Blomkvist and Rooney Mara (THE SOCIAL NETWORK (2010)) will be playing as Lisbeth. I think no matter how hard they will try. Thiz Swedish movie has already set up the bar so high and seems undefeated at thiz time. Visit My Blog on JONNYâ

"They sure don't make 'em like this in Hollywood." That was my thought after I had calmly settled into the film, only to be jolted awake at the sight of what could be the most graphic **** violence scene I've witnessed in major cinema. It wasn't enough to make my stomach turn, but my female companion certainly wasn't too comfortable with what was going on. Later in the film, I got my own taste of that feeling. Because if The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo offers anything, sexual/graphic violence are at the top of the list. Okay, if you're still reading, this could be a film you would enjoy. The movie is a Swedish production (English subtitles) and is an adaptation of the first book in author Stieg Larsson's award-winning series. From what I gather, the film remains extremely faithful to the book, all the way to a nearly two and a half hour run time. The story is quite twisted and is rather well woven with many layers. The main plot revolves around a hot-shot reporter who has fallen on hard times (read: going to prison because he's been found guilty of libel) and is now hired by a dying old man to find his niece that has been missing for 40 years. Pretty standard stuff, until the pieces begin falling into place, and we learn that the main suspects are all family members. Then all bets are off and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo steams ahead as disturbing details are discovered one after another. As far as the story goes, it's a little better than your average mystery. It keeps you guessing and there are plenty of suspects to choose from. The real gem of the film is in the character of Lisbeth Salander (played by Noomi Rapace), she of "girl with the dragon tattoo" fame. Lisbeth has been spying on Mikael Blomkvist (our unfortunate reporter) and unintentionally ends up getting herself involved in his latest project. Her character is a very complicated one. She's a hacker, covered in piercings, smokes like a chimney to calm herself down, has a very hidden and dark past including criminal activity, is withdrawn and stand-offish and yet she ends up being almost lovable. Rapace's performance is definitely a highlight of the movie. She manages Lisbeth's facial expressions and moods with ease and gives us exactly what Larsson wanted the character to be. Unfortunately, her supporting cast and the general low-budget feel of the film don't do her any favors... she can't save it on her own. The "book vs. movie" debate is alive and well here. Despite being a cinema lover, I usually prefer the book, and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo did nothing to change my mind. It's a decent thriller, but the unnecessarily violent sex scenes and nature of the crimes act as shock value and don't add much meaningful to the story. However, I commend the director for staying true to the book and being unafraid to depict these same scenes as they were written. If that sounds like a bit of a contradiction, it is. And that is where I am left when it comes to my thoughts on the film - confused. I enjoyed it well enough, but was not blown away or inspired or emotionally riveted. I will definitely be viewing the sequels if for no other reason than to see more of Rapace, but the movie did offer up a solid crime mystery and for that I'll consider it slightly above average.

Girl missing for 40 years, head of family asks journalist to find her, journalist under investigation, gets help from unexpected source, dark secrets unveiled. Film version of Stieg Larsson's amazing book & transformed very well with the whole cold yet beautiful winter Swedish setting drawing you in from the start. Excellent casting with Noomi Rapace standing out as Salander & Michael Nyqvist putting in a good turn as Blomkvist. The film does miss quite a bit out of the book but pulls off the scenes competently (the darker ones are quite harrowing) & I'm looking forward to the second part.

I'm pretty sure some of you have read the book or even the whole series. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo features a violent, but gripping performance from Noomi Rapace that is unforgettable. The book (another different review) is one of the best books I've read. With great details and gruesome descriptions, it still an awesome crime novel that you won't put down. Even though the book features more details and better than the movie, the film still satisfies me with great performances and accurate details of the book itself.

Love this movie. This is a really good movie. I don't even like movies with subtitle but I don't mind reading the subtitles for this movie. One of the best movie of the year. I didn't read the books. I want to read the books now. I hope the Us version be as good as this one.I think everyone should own a copy of this movie.

It doesn't take long for Girl With The Dragon Tattoo to tip its hand. Inside of five minutes we're presented with a television reporter doing a typical live shot from outside a courthouse. Well, typical in every way except that she's prominently, ostentatiously pregnant. Ah. Female power. Gotcha. In the ensuing two hours we learn that women are lesbians because they were **** as children. That women are smarter and stronger than men. That victims are allowed to be warped by their past but that criminals are not. And that it's quite OK for a female to play the traditional male role and for the male to more or less play the traditional female role. That last one is especially OK because the female in question happens to be the very best thing about this movie. Her name's Noomi Rapace and she plays a pierced, tattooed punkish girl with a very violent streak who also happens to be a whiz at the internet thingie and has a crackerjack memory. I'd like to say she's complicated but that's being a bit generous to the writer, Swedish novelist Stieg Larsson. But she is interesting in a malevolent, **** kind of way. Rapace becomes entangled in the life of an investigative journalist who's hired to solve a 40 year-old case of a missing girl. And if Rapace is the best thing about this movie, then the impact she has on his life, thin gruel though it may be, is the second best. Third best is the actual plot of the movie, a somewhat complicated whodunnit replete with sex, sadism and, of course, murder. Salacious stuff somehow rendered limp, save for a handful of electric scenes with Rapace and her probation officer. I understand that Larsson wrote three novels based on these characters, popped them off to his publisher, then dropped dead. He never saw them become an international success. I also understand that this Swedish movie (with subtitles) is the first of three films to be based on his books. In the next film I look forward to seeing how Rapace's character develops and grows. She's really quite interesting. And I hold out hope that the girl power message is supported by stronger story and is energized by a director with a more skillful grasp of pacing and tension.

It was not as good as the book I'm dissapointed to say. I'm not sure if it was the english dub but the script just felt bland. Actors for Blomkvist and Salander were well-chosen though