The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009) | agoodmovietowatch
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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 2009

Our Take (by Bilal Zouheir)

The original Swedish mystery thriller that was later remade by David Fincher. It’s the same story of a wealthy man hiring a journalist and scrappy hacker to solver a murder, but told better. This version is slower, has more attention to detail and pace. In casting, authenticity triumphs over good looks. In staging, aesthetics are given as much importance as thrills. And in the story, intelligence wins over plot. This gives the main character of Lisbeth Salander (played by Noomi Rapace) better space to deploy her full mysticism and enigmatic nature. Danish director Niels Arden Oplev masterfully brings everything together to make for a movie that will forever be remembered.

Notable Critics

"Gives a relatively faithful idea of the novel's ingenious construction but only glimpses of its scathing portrait of Sweden as a corrupt, bankrupt and misogynistic society."

— Boyd van Hoeij

Synopsis

Swedish thriller based on Stieg Larsson's novel about a male journalist and a young female hacker. In the opening of the movie, Mikael Blomkvist, a middle-aged publisher for the magazine Millennium, loses a libel case brought by corrupt Swedish industrialist Hans-Erik Wennerström. Nevertheless, he is hired by Henrik Vanger in order to solve a cold case, the disappearance of Vanger's niece

Awards

BAFTA

1 win, 2 nominations

Won: Best Film Not in the English LanguageNominated: Best Leading ActressNominated: Best Screenplay (Adapted)

European Film Awards

3 nominations

Nominated: Audience AwardNominated: European ActressNominated: European Composer

Comments

  1. Best ending ever. Be patient in following the storyline … it’s worth it. Watch all three in this trilogy.

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About the author

Bilal Zouheir

Bilal Zouheir

Bilal Zouheir is the founder of A Good Movie to Watch. He is US-based and a member of the Nevada Film Critics Society. He grew up in Morocco, where he learned English from watching movies. Bilal's work with A Good Movie to Watch is focused on offering an alternative to streaming algorithms, which are often used as commercial tools by streaming services.