The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

Adam Barrett said:Finished the third one last night. Even though they messed with the book version quite a bit—including how some characters actually look—it’s decent, but the whole trilogy just feels fake to me. 🤷 Michael and Elizabeth just happen to cross paths, and then lo and behold, they end up together again because some reporter at his office decides to dig into a trafficking case that somehow turns into this wild saga about Elizabeth, 😕 not to mention that ending of the second movie which was peak nonsense.

The only saving grace for this entire series is Elizabeth herself. But like I said on Literature, she’s got those crazy traits that make her worth watching.

Overall? The Millennium Trilogy is just massive amounts of unbelievable bullshit, but the actress playing Elizabeth is killer. She totally deserves an Oscar.

It’s pretty obvious they’d reconnect, considering she spent the following year poking around his laptop whenever she felt like it, which is how she figured out what he was working on at the newspaper.
That reunion isn't some random fluke; in a way, they practically set the whole chain of events in motion themselves. 🤷

Sure, there are a few plot holes and moments where things feel a bit forced, but certain threads are actually woven together quite well. 😳

Daniel Perez6 said:It’s pretty obvious they’d reconnect, considering she spent the following year poking around his laptop whenever she felt like it, which is how she figured out what he was working on at the newspaper.
That reunion isn't some random fluke; in a way, they practically set the whole chain of events in motion themselves. 🤷

Sure, there are a few plot holes and moments where things feel a bit forced, but certain threads are actually woven together quite well. 😳

Snooping? Please. Behind this whole human trafficking mess, the real story is actually about her. Like, how... yeah, no. 🙄

She’s one of the two central characters—everything basically revolves around her, so it makes sense to me. Plus, the way they pronounce Zalacenko actually holds up once you’ve seen all three parts. 🙂

Adam Barrett said:Snooping? Please. Behind this whole human trafficking mess, the real story is actually about her. Like, how... yeah, no. 🙄

Not directly related to the movie, but regarding that comment—life has shown me plenty of times that stuff like this actually happens. Just a totally random chain of events. Crazy, right?

My dear guest, at the end of the day, the trilogy remains nothing more than fiction 😉

The first installment is clearly in a league of its own, though I’d give the other two a passing grade at best

(Especially considering the recent string of "Hollywood blockbusters" I've sat through in theaters—this is a more than decent trilogy)

Oh, and one more thing—the acting is absolutely superb

So I caught it last night, but honestly, I drifted off for a bit... managed to catch some bits during the parts where I was actually awake... still feel like I need to give it another watch though, because a few things are totally flying over my head... like, who was that guy who killed her old man in the hospital and then himself? And what was her dad even up to that they had to cover everything up and toss her into a psych ward? Was he some kind of secret agent or something? If anyone could just give me the gist in a few lines, that'd be great 🙂 hope I'm not being too much of a spoiler for those who haven't seen it yet 🤷
Lisbeth is such a fascinating character, and Noomi really nailed it—she was so incredibly convincing. In my book, she deserved at least an Oscar nomination for that performance... total fail on the Academy's part if you ask me 😢

James Nguyen14 said:So I caught it last night, but honestly, I drifted off for a bit... managed to catch some bits during the parts where I was actually awake... still feel like I need to give it another watch though, because a few things are totally flying over my head... like, who was that guy who killed her old man in the hospital and then himself? And what was her dad even up to that they had to cover everything up and toss her into a psych ward? Was he some kind of secret agent or something? If anyone could just give me the gist in a few lines, that'd be great 🙂 hope I'm not being too much of a spoiler for those who haven't seen it yet 🤷
Lisbeth is such a fascinating character, and Noomi really nailed it—she was so incredibly convincing. In my book, she deserved at least an Oscar nomination for that performance... total fail on the Academy's part if you ask me 😢

Spoiler alert
When Zalacenko arrived in Sweden, he went to the Swedish intelligence service, which was understaffed due to the elections. A small, secret organization formed to protect him in exchange for data, since he was a defector from Russian intelligence. They've been cleaning up after him for 30 years. That's why they couldn't openly go after Lisbeth; they just tossed her into a psychiatric facility to shut her up. The guy who kills himself is part of that secret cell. He’s pretty sick—advanced liver cancer, if I recall—and he takes his own life to save the group from Zal, who is threatening to expose the fact that they've been leaking confidential info.
end

Noomi actually got nominations from Globus and SAG-AFTRA last year, so her performance definitely didn't go unnoticed. 😉

Regarding the trilogy, the thing is that Larsson was an activist for women's rights—physical, psychological, sexual abuse—and he likely grew disillusioned with how the legal system handled those cases. To vent that frustration, he wrote novels celebrating a female warrior capable of fighting back alone. He wanted to highlight the issue of abused women. If he went a bit overboard at times, it doesn't bother me. 🤷

Timothy Morgan2 said:Spoiler alert
When Zalacenko arrived in Sweden, he went to the Swedish intelligence service, which was understaffed due to the elections. A small, secret organization formed to protect him in exchange for data, since he was a defector from Russian intelligence. They've been cleaning up after him for 30 years. That's why they couldn't openly go after Lisbeth; they just tossed her into a psychiatric facility to shut her up. The guy who kills himself is part of that secret cell. He’s pretty sick—advanced liver cancer, if I recall—and he takes his own life to save the group from Zal, who is threatening to expose the fact that they've been leaking confidential info.
end

Noomi actually got nominations from Globus and SAG-AFTRA last year, so her performance definitely didn't go unnoticed. 😉

Regarding the trilogy, the thing is that Larsson was an activist for women's rights—physical, psychological, sexual abuse—and he likely grew disillusioned with how the legal system handled those cases. To vent that frustration, he wrote novels celebrating a female warrior capable of fighting back alone. He wanted to highlight the issue of abused women. If he went a bit overboard at times, it doesn't bother me. 🤷

Thanks for clearing that up 😉 makes sense now...
And just a quick correction, IMDb says she was nominated for a SAG-AFTRA award but not for a Golden Globe 😢 bummer... It's weird she hasn't swept up awards in Europe either... but hey, sometimes things are just unfair...
It’s not all about the trophies anyway. Think about how many actors have Oscars they didn't really earn, while others are still sitting around waiting for their moment ☕

Timothy Morgan2 said:Spoiler alert
When Zalacenko arrived in Sweden, he went to the Swedish intelligence service, which was understaffed due to the elections. A small, secret organization formed to protect him in exchange for data, since he was a defector from Russian intelligence. They've been cleaning up after him for 30 years. That's why they couldn't openly go after Lisbeth; they just tossed her into a psychiatric facility to shut her up. The guy who kills himself is part of that secret cell. He’s pretty sick—advanced liver cancer, if I recall—and he takes his own life to save the group from Zal, who is threatening to expose the fact that they've been leaking confidential info.
end

Noomi actually got nominations from Globus and SAG-AFTRA last year, so her performance definitely didn't go unnoticed. 😉

Regarding the trilogy, the thing is that Larsson was an activist for women's rights—physical, psychological, sexual abuse—and he likely grew disillusioned with how the legal system handled those cases. To vent that frustration, he wrote novels celebrating a female warrior capable of fighting back alone. He wanted to highlight the issue of abused women. If he went a bit overboard at times, it doesn't bother me. 🤷

SPOILER:

If I could just add one thing—the newly elected government claims they had absolutely no idea this little shadow group even existed. Apparently, by deal with the previous administration, these members were tucked away on the payrolls of various embassies and departments—basically hiding in plain sight. They spent 30 years covering for > just to protect their own status and paychecks. So, it was totally in their interest to get rid of >, and eventually > too, once he threatened to blow everything wide open. In that sense, > isn't really the main villain—it's the organization itself.

James Nguyen14 said:Thanks for clearing that up 😉 makes sense now...
And just a quick correction, IMDb says she was nominated for a SAG-AFTRA award but not for a Golden Globe 😢 bummer... It's weird she hasn't swept up awards in Europe either... but hey, sometimes things are just unfair...
It’s not all about the trophies anyway. Think about how many actors have Oscars they didn't really earn, while others are still sitting around waiting for their moment ☕

My bad. I was convinced that was the case, so I didn't bother double-checking. I must have mixed things up.
It feels like awards haven't been about actual merit for years now. It’s always some other logic at play instead.
At the end of the day, it’s all about the audience. As far as I'm concerned, she captured Lisbeth exactly how Larsson envisioned her.🙂

Timothy Morgan2 said:Spoiler alert
When Zalacenko arrived in Sweden, he went to the Swedish intelligence service, which was understaffed due to the elections. A small, secret organization formed to protect him in exchange for data, since he was a defector from Russian intelligence. They've been cleaning up after him for 30 years. That's why they couldn't openly go after Lisbeth; they just tossed her into a psychiatric facility to shut her up. The guy who kills himself is part of that secret cell. He’s pretty sick—advanced liver cancer, if I recall—and he takes his own life to save the group from Zal, who is threatening to expose the fact that they've been leaking confidential info.
end

Noomi actually got nominations from Globus and SAG-AFTRA last year, so her performance definitely didn't go unnoticed. 😉

Regarding the trilogy, the thing is that Larsson was an activist for women's rights—physical, psychological, sexual abuse—and he likely grew disillusioned with how the legal system handled those cases. To vent that frustration, he wrote novels celebrating a female warrior capable of fighting back alone. He wanted to highlight the issue of abused women. If he went a bit overboard at times, it doesn't bother me. 🤷

Actually, Ridley Scott was so blown away after seeing her work that he ended up casting Noomi in Prometheus, especially since Ridley has always had such a massive soft spot for Scandinavian cinema.

Sam Smith3 said:So, I finally sat down and watched that movie last night... mostly just because of all the massive hype surrounding the Millennium Trilogy. Honestly, I probably should have read the books first instead of jumping straight to the film version.
Now, I have absolutely zero motivation to pick up the book. I expected so much more from this.

It was overly commercialized, predictable, and felt incredibly derivative.
Everything about it was dialed up way too high. You’ve got the lead actress playing someone on the fringes of society—who, let's be real, is clearly portrayed as some sort of victim of abuse—mixed with a heavy dose of religious subtext (because apparently, if it isn't in the Bible, you can't solve anything), and of course, the inevitable Nazi references (as if Americans haven't dealt with enough of that already). Then there's the whole Sodom and Gomorrah vibe—maybe those cold, dark winter nights in the States get a little too intense for people—and it all wraps up with a happy ending, which is just classic Hollywood commercialism; she ends up beautiful and wealthy at the end.
On top of all that, they throw in a bit of investigative journalism, some courtroom drama, a few offshore accounts, African cartels, some random tattoos, and an excessive amount of Apple products.

I can't imagine myself ever sitting through the sequels.

😵

Man, I'm just waiting for you to actually write something better and more interesting that isn't just a rehash of everything else.
Hopefully it drops soon.
You can't just trash everything that's actually good without coming up with something that hits just as hard, right? hmm ☕

A beautiful film, though it leaves one feeling unsettled and frankly quite irritated. 😁

I’ve finished reading the books and watched all three films, including both the theatrical cuts and the extended versions. I haven't brought myself to watch the Fincher version because... honestly, I just can't get past Noomi.😍

Out of everything I've seen, the theatrical cut of the first film is the only one that truly resonated with me. It hit hard—so much so that it left me deeply lost in thought (though my head is still spinning a bit from the impact).
Lisbeth is such a compelling character🙂, and she completely won me over thanks to the lead actress; in the books, she just didn't quite capture my heart the same way.

Man, what a waste. I went and watched the Fincher version first (if you can even call it that 🙄) just so I could sit down right now and watch the actual real deal. I honestly don't get how someone can be such a total moron that they decide to make a literal carbon copy of this movie within such a tiny window of time. Seriously though, this flick isn't just twice as good as Fincher's rip-off—it's three times better.
The whole thing centers on Noomi, and she absolutely crushed it. She basically carried the entire movie on her back (honestly, makes sense why Ridley Scott tapped her for Prometheus)
The directing is more than solid. It’s actually kind of tripping me out because I felt like I’d already seen everything in Fincher's blatant plagiarism 😠
The acting feels real, which is a huge plus for me—unlike that fake-sounding Daniel Craig vibe. They nailed the important stuff way better than Fincher did, too. Like, the dynamic with the guardian, the chemistry between the two leads... just all the resolutions feel much more well-executed.

And that ending? Total icing on the cake.

10/10

Can someone catch me up on how the first movie ends? I stopped right when the protagonist starts digging into that photo of the woman from the moon.

Did you watch the American version or the Swedish one?

Since the Swedish version was on TV recently, I’ll give you the ending for that one:

Michael and Lisbeth are right on the killer's trail when Martin captures Michael and starts torturing him. Lisbeth shows up and helps Michael break free, but Martin manages to escape. During the chase, he veers off the road and crashes; Lisbeth doesn't lift a finger to save him—she just watches him burn.

Afterward, the two of them tip off their old contact about who's responsible, and they discover that Harriet is actually still alive. Michael heads down to Australia to find her, and she eventually makes her way to Henrik.

~~~~
Once Michael gets out of prison, Lisbeth helps him expose Wennerström, who finally gets arrested. Naturally, she walks away with half his fortune after pulling a fast one on the bank.

Sweden..

It was such a genuine pleasure getting to sit down and rewatch this great flick one more time... 🙂

Patrick Martin said:Man, what a waste. I went and watched the Fincher version first (if you can even call it that 🙄) just so I could sit down right now and watch the actual real deal. I honestly don't get how someone can be such a total moron that they decide to make a literal carbon copy of this movie within such a tiny window of time. Seriously though, this flick isn't just twice as good as Fincher's rip-off—it's three times better.
The whole thing centers on Noomi, and she absolutely crushed it. She basically carried the entire movie on her back (honestly, makes sense why Ridley Scott tapped her for Prometheus)
The directing is more than solid. It’s actually kind of tripping me out because I felt like I’d already seen everything in Fincher's blatant plagiarism 😠
The acting feels real, which is a huge plus for me—unlike that fake-sounding Daniel Craig vibe. They nailed the important stuff way better than Fincher did, too. Like, the dynamic with the guardian, the chemistry between the two leads... just all the resolutions feel much more well-executed.

And that ending? Total icing on the cake.

10/10

If you actually read the books, you'd realize Fincher's version is actually the better one and stays truer to Stieg Larsson. Noomi Rapace is a great actress, but her Lisbeth isn't Lisbeth from the books at all. It's almost like a different character.
Fincher did a waaaay better job. Even my friend from Sweden says so.