It's Not About The Yakuza
I wasn't actually sure that I wanted to see "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo". The more I learned about it, the less fond I was of the idea. However, Brian wanted to see it, so during a happy few hours where the child was distracted by her Grandaddy, we went to the theatre to see it. What the hell, I owed him one for "Game of Shadows".
If you've read the books, nothing here will be likely to surprise you. If, like me, you haven't read the books, you may want to read this just to be sure you aren't caught off guard by something you weren't expecting. So.
WARNING: This movie contains nudity, violence, sexual content both consensual and not consensual, and graphic descriptions of murder and rape!
Let's see. We start the film off with the blowing up of Mikael's career as he's convicted of libel. At the same time we are also introduced to a young woman with multiple tattoos, piercings, and a very odd haircut who just so happens to be a security firm's best investigator. Not that she tells her assigned social worker just what she does for that firm.
Not even a week passes, Mikael is hired by a wealthy family patriarch to look into the death/disappearance of his niece, under the cover of writing his memoirs. He gets to stay in a nice cabin on the island, everything he needs for the investigation at his fingertips, and a gorgeous and affectionate gray tabby cat to keep him company. Meanwhile, the social worker gets more than a bit handsy with Lisbeth (see warnings above) and she gets even (repeat: SEE WARNINGS ABOVE!) and then Mikael learns who ran the background check on him for the Family.
The first meeting between Lisbeth and Mikael is fraught with awkwardness as a more than just alarmed Lisbeth reluctantly lets him into her apartment and also reluctantly ushers out her date from the night before, to which Mikael (to his credit) barely bats an eye. Her reluctance to even be in the same room with him is clear, right up until he mentions the case he wants her help with. Now it's about business. Moreover, it's about bringing down a killer of women, something she's more than happy to help with.
Things go relatively well between them, working around each other on the island right up until someone starts shooting at Mikael and he rushes back to the little cabin with a head wound. This actually marks a turning point in the dynamic between Lisbeth and Mikael as she displays actual concern over his arriving in a panic and covered in blood. She then helps him wash the blood off, clean the wound, and then proceeds to stitch it closed with dental floss. She then sends him to the bedroom to take off his wet clothes... and follows him in, stripping herself down and pushing him back onto the bed after he points out that them having sex is probably a bad idea.
Oddly, the change in their relationship also heralds a break in the investigation, which leads down dark and twisted paths. (PETA would be horrified by what happens to the cat.) Mikael eventually finds the person responsible for a lot of seriously perverted murders, only to be caught by him. It's a sign of how thorough the director of the film was that the creepiest thing about the entire torture/murder workshop is how very neatly all of the various tools and implements are carefully cleaned and arranged on the pristine walls. His comment when Mikael is strung up on a hook and being stripped in preparation about "never having had a man in here" is skin-crawling in its implications of how long and how thorough this has been a part of his life, and it's only a timely blow from a golf club wielding Lisbeth that saves Mikael from being the man's first male victim.
The movie doesn't end there, of course. There's the libel situation to straighten out, more consensual sex between Mikael and Lisbeth, and a major points-winning moment when Lisbeth has to ask Mikael for a Kr50,000 loan as an investment and after a moment of hesitation he simply agrees, with no strings attached. Lisbeth looks quite surprised, and this, too, is a turning point in their relationship. She does indeed pay him back, after having made good use of the "starter money", and having made herself a rather hefty amount of change as well. She's come to regard Mikael as a friend, even buying him a Christmas present and handwriting a Christmas card. The problem? Mikael told her he was going to see his daughter that night, and she arrives with the present and card only to see him getting into a cab with the blonde female boss he's been seeing. The hurt look on her face is more painful than seeing the expensive leather jacket she bought him end up in the dumpster as she drives away.
On the whole, a wonderfully dark movie. Trent Reznor lives up to his reputation with the soundtrack, and it really is every bit as dark and creepy as described. The opening credits provide some twisted nightmare fuel, and the movie itself pressed several of my Squick Buttons, but I can honestly say that I do not regret seeing it.
Do I want to see it again?
~shudders~ Over my dead body.
Peace, love and candied jellyfish!
-Lady Shadowphyre
If you've read the books, nothing here will be likely to surprise you. If, like me, you haven't read the books, you may want to read this just to be sure you aren't caught off guard by something you weren't expecting. So.
WARNING: This movie contains nudity, violence, sexual content both consensual and not consensual, and graphic descriptions of murder and rape!
Let's see. We start the film off with the blowing up of Mikael's career as he's convicted of libel. At the same time we are also introduced to a young woman with multiple tattoos, piercings, and a very odd haircut who just so happens to be a security firm's best investigator. Not that she tells her assigned social worker just what she does for that firm.
Not even a week passes, Mikael is hired by a wealthy family patriarch to look into the death/disappearance of his niece, under the cover of writing his memoirs. He gets to stay in a nice cabin on the island, everything he needs for the investigation at his fingertips, and a gorgeous and affectionate gray tabby cat to keep him company. Meanwhile, the social worker gets more than a bit handsy with Lisbeth (see warnings above) and she gets even (repeat: SEE WARNINGS ABOVE!) and then Mikael learns who ran the background check on him for the Family.
The first meeting between Lisbeth and Mikael is fraught with awkwardness as a more than just alarmed Lisbeth reluctantly lets him into her apartment and also reluctantly ushers out her date from the night before, to which Mikael (to his credit) barely bats an eye. Her reluctance to even be in the same room with him is clear, right up until he mentions the case he wants her help with. Now it's about business. Moreover, it's about bringing down a killer of women, something she's more than happy to help with.
Things go relatively well between them, working around each other on the island right up until someone starts shooting at Mikael and he rushes back to the little cabin with a head wound. This actually marks a turning point in the dynamic between Lisbeth and Mikael as she displays actual concern over his arriving in a panic and covered in blood. She then helps him wash the blood off, clean the wound, and then proceeds to stitch it closed with dental floss. She then sends him to the bedroom to take off his wet clothes... and follows him in, stripping herself down and pushing him back onto the bed after he points out that them having sex is probably a bad idea.
Oddly, the change in their relationship also heralds a break in the investigation, which leads down dark and twisted paths. (PETA would be horrified by what happens to the cat.) Mikael eventually finds the person responsible for a lot of seriously perverted murders, only to be caught by him. It's a sign of how thorough the director of the film was that the creepiest thing about the entire torture/murder workshop is how very neatly all of the various tools and implements are carefully cleaned and arranged on the pristine walls. His comment when Mikael is strung up on a hook and being stripped in preparation about "never having had a man in here" is skin-crawling in its implications of how long and how thorough this has been a part of his life, and it's only a timely blow from a golf club wielding Lisbeth that saves Mikael from being the man's first male victim.
The movie doesn't end there, of course. There's the libel situation to straighten out, more consensual sex between Mikael and Lisbeth, and a major points-winning moment when Lisbeth has to ask Mikael for a Kr50,000 loan as an investment and after a moment of hesitation he simply agrees, with no strings attached. Lisbeth looks quite surprised, and this, too, is a turning point in their relationship. She does indeed pay him back, after having made good use of the "starter money", and having made herself a rather hefty amount of change as well. She's come to regard Mikael as a friend, even buying him a Christmas present and handwriting a Christmas card. The problem? Mikael told her he was going to see his daughter that night, and she arrives with the present and card only to see him getting into a cab with the blonde female boss he's been seeing. The hurt look on her face is more painful than seeing the expensive leather jacket she bought him end up in the dumpster as she drives away.
On the whole, a wonderfully dark movie. Trent Reznor lives up to his reputation with the soundtrack, and it really is every bit as dark and creepy as described. The opening credits provide some twisted nightmare fuel, and the movie itself pressed several of my Squick Buttons, but I can honestly say that I do not regret seeing it.
Do I want to see it again?
~shudders~ Over my dead body.
Peace, love and candied jellyfish!
-Lady Shadowphyre