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The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo


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the movies are good, but the action is kinda lame, plus in the beginning of TGWKTHN there is a big continuity error in one of the fight scenes. Whilst I am not really holding my breath for the Hollywood versions, I hope they do a better job of translating the action than the Swedish films did. The Swede films did a great job on mood, tension and character, but not so good otherwise, IMHO.

the books however were excellent, my wife got us hooked with a recommendation from Peoples magazine years ago. I bought all our copies from Amazon UK, as they were out there almost two years before they were available here in North America.

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Well, I have now seen The Girl Who Played With Fire, the second movie in the trilogy. The first movie was great. The second movie was very much not great. This has considerably cooled my enthusiasm for seeing the third movie.

In the first movie, when Lisbeth was attacked by the punks, what was impressive about her reaction was not that she was a great fighter, but that she reacted so strongly, she just went nuts, into an almost feral, animalistic state, prompting the punks to back off with one of them saying, "This bitch is crazy!" There was no slightest hint in the first movie that Lisbeth had any real training at all. And isn't it interesting how, between the two movies, she magically transforms into a woman who's been training as a boxer and a fighter since she was 17, capable of going up against a biker who outweighs her by, oh, 150 pounds and beating the crap out of him?

Also, I have to say, any woman can breathe dirt for hours on end and come out the other side still alive definitely falls into the "highly skilled" category. :rolleyes:

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well hell... first book and first movie were cool. deliberately didnt watch the 2nd movie yet until i've read the book... and now you go tell me that! grrrrr...

if any of you are just getting into this series, i suggest reading the book first before watching the movie (TGWTDT). book fills in some extra background and makes the movie easier to follow/understand, especially since you are dividing your time by reading the subtitles. but happily is does stay fairly true the the storyline of the book, pretty much...

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The DVD of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo that I watched didn't have a dubbed option. That was fine - actually I was amazed at how little reading the subtitles distracted me from the movie. OTOH The Girl Who Played With Fire did have a dubbed option. I listened to it for a few seconds, then chose the subtitled version. I found the choice of voice actors for the various characters just incredibly bad, especially given the wonderful job the original actors did in the Swedish language version.

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It would have been nice to have SOME transistion from the feral tough girl who exhibited no martial arts training to the tough boxer that she exhibited in the second movie. Even a one minute scene discussing a hesitance to use her skills would have made it all work. oh well.

The DVD of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo that I watched didn't have a dubbed option. That was fine - actually I was amazed at how little reading the subtitles distracted me from the movie. OTOH The Girl Who Played With Fire did have a dubbed option. I listened to it for a few seconds, then chose the subtitled version. I found the choice of voice actors for the various characters just incredibly bad, especially given the wonderful job the original actors did in the Swedish language version.

I don't mind subtitles if they are well done. After the first few minutes it seems almost as if the actors are speaking English.

I agree that the second movie was not nearly as good as the first one but I did still find it entertaining.

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The movie was very good but it is very difficult for me to not compare it to the book as I watched it.

As with just about every case where I have read a book that has been made into a movie it is hard not to come away disappointed. IMO, Hollywood (nor anywhere else movies are made) has yet to reach the point of "painting the story" as well as a talented author can do with his words in the reader's mind.

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Not necessarily always true. For instance the Dexter novels IMHO fairly suck. But the Dexter TV show based on the novels - at least the first season is based on the first novel though for later seasons the show departs widely - absolutely ROCKS.

While waiting for new episodes of the Dexter TV show to come out on DVD I read a Dexter novel (or 4) and I would have to agree with your evaluation. The novels are not that great. How Jeff Lindsay managed to get someone to notice his work and turn it into a show as compelling as Dexter is beyond me. In his defense the character Dexter is really good even in the books so he did get that right. Sadly the novels lack the tightly written whit and darkly delightful candor of the television series.

-ld

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Reading the Dexter novels is kind of like watching a great character search desperately for a great writer. Fortunately in the TV show Dexter has found the creativity, the great writing, and the great plotting, he deserves. And, while I realize this is a genre thing he couldn't possibly have in the novels, I have to say that casting Michael C. Hall as Dexter was an absolute masterstroke. Hall is just freakin' killing that role. (No pun intended. :))

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Man, I must be missing something! I am about half-way thru the first book and have found it to be a most serious snoozefest! I mean slow and incredibly boring. In fact the friend who gave the books to me commented at the time that I would not enjoy them and so far I have found the first to be less than engaging. I will keep going forward, hopefuly this will improve.

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the first book speeds WAY up at about halfway. dont stop now. The Swedish Tattoo movie was great. I lived in Sweden for a summer back in 1977 (college job) and the setting, language and mannerisms really brought back memories. Be sure to watch the movie in Swedish and subtitles. Forget the dubbed version. Listen to the dialogue, even if you cant really understand it.

The Fire book and movie were not nearly as good as the Tattoo ones, but worth reading/watching. The Hornet Nest book is better than Fire, but not as good as Tattoo. I havent see the 3rd movie.

The firearm references are hilarious in the book series. Big deals about the "hunting" ammo and registration, but are reflective of Swedish laws and culture. Several different firearms are used and discussed and it is clear the author had an interest if not much expertise.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just finished listening to the book on tape. I enjoyed them both, but I think the screen writer did a good job of eliminating parts of the book that didn't contribute to the main story line. I found the beginning of the book very slow, and felt like it went on a while at the end unnecessarily (my opinion may have been swayed by the movie. I might have felt different if I had read the book first.)

No specifics given, but a very minor spoiler below.

I was very disappointed to find out that the movie added a fairly major plot point that wasn't included in the book. I'm assuming it was taken from the second book, but since I haven't read it yet, I can't say for sure.

Edited by sperman
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  • 3 weeks later...

Wow, who'd have thunk that a thread on benos would trigger me to go rent my first foreign language film. I was blown away by the movie. Absolutely awesome story, but incredibly gritty and real. More than a few times I felt a chill down my back.

TGWTDT is one of the rare movies I've seen where I didn't find myself cheering inside during any of the violence scenes. Everything about the film was so believable that very, very little suspension of disbelief is required. I don't know if Hollywood is capable of (re)making such a movie. Regardless, I'll probably find myself in a theater next Christmas to find out.

It saddens me to hear TGWPWF movie isn't as good, but I'll have to rent it anyway to find out. Heck, I liked TGWTDT so much I might run over to Blockbuster yet today.

Lastly, for any foreign film neewbs like myself, watch it with the subtitles. After my first viewing, I went back to watch it again with the English overdub turned on, and it definitely lost something.

Thanks for the movie tip Duane!

-Steve

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I seem to be in the minority here. I just subscribed to Netflix and this was the first movie I watched (Read) with my new service. I never liked subtitled movies, but figured after all the reviews, what the heck, ill give it a go. Well, I still don't like subtitled movie's. I must read to slowly as I never see anything. By the time I look back to whats going on I think crap, what did I just miss. Very agravating. I think ill read the book so I can see what I missed.

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I can not carry a tune even in a backpack and I got suspended from school for my writing. So music and art were out. My fine arts credits in college were in film. So subtitles and dubbing have little effect on me.

I have Netfilx which makes it great to see foreign movies before they get americanized. Think of Three Men and a Baby or Nikita.

I read the three books then watched the two movies. The first one was great the second was good both for the books and the movie. The third book was great and can not wait to see the movie.

Although most foreign flicks lack the production quality of american films, their story telling is usually much better. They tend to rely on the story, script, and acting more than over the top action scenes.

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  • 4 months later...

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