Millenium 1 [movie]

After reading the three novels in the Millenium trilogy, with mixed feelings, as shown by this post versus that one!, I had a (masochistic?) go at the movies! The first film corresponding to The Girl with the dragon tattoo is fairly efficient, with a fast pace that is  not surprising given the style of the book. So I overall enjoyed it, even though having read the books before spoiled most of the surprises about the detective story and the murders. (The reverse is true: the film contains spoilers about the second book, The Girl who played with fire.)

The scenario avoids some of the heavy goings of the book, the hacking super-powers of Lisbeth Salander being for instance toned down (or at least suggested rather than described in boring details). What I considered as a side story in the book, namely the uncovering of the serial killer, is central to the film, while the revenge of Kalle Blomkvist is rushed through the final minutes. Maybe the major appeal of the movie comes from Noomi Rapace, the highly convincing actress playing the role of Lisbeth Salander as she manages to render the psychological specificities of Salander by a mostly internal acting, i.e. a lack of normal reaction to extreme situations and an almost always expressionless facial behaviour… (By comparison, the character of the journalist Blomkvist lacks substance, charisma, and conviction. Even more than in the book.)

powersis The Girl with the dragon tattoo