What I thought about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Män som Hatar Kvinnor)

(WARNING: There might be spoilers ahead)

Yesterday me and the boyfriend headed down to the movie theater to watch The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (American version), which I’ve been eagerly expecting for a while. This movie is based in Stieg Larsson’s Trilogy “Millenium”, which became a best seller (read about the plot here). It is also a remake to the first, Swedish version.

I actually got interested in the book months before I decided I wanted to live in Sweden. It became one of my favorite series. It also depressed me to no end, knowing that the author, Stieg Larsson, was actually planning to write 10 books, but died having written only a rough, maybe unusable draft for the 4^th. Makes me wonder all the things that could’ve happened that I never got to know (yes, I get pretty involved with book’s character’s lives xD).

Anyway, the movie. Last year I had the chance to watch the Swedish version, Män som Hatar Kvinnor (And I still wonder why the Americans changed such a profound and defining name as “Men who hate Women”  to one pretty much… irrelevant to the story as a whole. They didn’t even make the tattoo as impressive as the one on Noomi Rapace!) and I LOVED IT. Unfortunately, I have a particularly sucky, holey-like-a-cheese memory. So I remember I loved it but can’t remember too many details.

And this one, the American version, I loved it too. It was different, though. For starters it’s pretty obvious that they had a larger budget . The realization of the movie looks a lot more clean, and the places they used seem more modern and polished. The Hollywood influence can’t be denied.

Another thing I liked is that, from what I remember, this movie stayed closer to the novel’s storyline.  And something I ADORED was the constant Swedish accent and the randomly thrown Swedish words all throughout the movie <3

Now the things I didn’t like... there weren’t that many, but all were pretty serious to me. I can’t get over the fact that Lisbeth Salander is soooo much more sociable in this movie. She doesn’t seem as messed up, and the main characteristics of her personality were lacking. The Swedish version did an excelent job at portraying Larsson’s Lisbeth. BUT, I think the spin in Rooney Mara’s acting was what made the main character much more approachable and relatable. I almost cried at the end, while in the Swedish version I felt bad but nothing more.

Someone else I didn’t care for as much was Lisbeth’s supervisor. To me, he didn’t seem as twisted as the other guy (in spite of what he was doing). This is a pretty important part of the story for me. And now that I think about it, Daniel Craig is also lacking in Blomkvist’s personality and humour.

And finally, the way they explained what happened to Harriet. While the Swedish movie didn’t stick to the book either, I felt a bigger change in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. And I didn’t like it much. But I guess I can understand that, with such a long movie, they really couldn’t  waste time explaining superflous details to the viewer, so they had to make it easier and lighter. And I repeat: This movie was LONG.

And to sum it up, I have to say I really liked them both, as they were just different, in the Swedish Lagom vs. Hollywood Extraordinaire way. I’d even risk saying I liked them equally, but first I’d have to rewatch Män som Hatar Kvinnor, cause you know, my memory is cheese xD So next time I watch it, I’ll let you guys know.

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Disclaimer: None of the pics are mine.