Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Theatrical Release Date: 2010 03 19 (USA - Limited)

UPC: 705105743455

Studio: Music Box Films

MPAA Rating: NR   Contains:[Graphic Violence, Nudity, Adult Situations, Rape & Sexual Abuse, Profanity, Sexual Situations]

Summary: A discredited journalist and a mysterious computer hacker discover that even the wealthiest families have skeletons in their closets while working to solve the mystery of a 40-year-old murder. Inspired by late author Stieg Larsson's successful trilogy of books, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo gets under way as Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander are briefed in the disappearance of Harriet Vanger, whose uncle suspects she may have been killed by a member of their own family. The deeper Mikael and Lisbeth dig for the truth, however, the greater the risk of being buried alive by members of the family who will go to great lengths to keep their secrets tightly sealed. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Category: Thriller

Awards: Film Presented – SXSW Best Adapted Screenplay – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Adapted Screenplay – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Actress – London Film Critics Association Best Actress – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Foreign Language Film – British Academy of Film and Television Arts

Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Format: Blu-ray

Release Date: 07/06/2010

Runtime: 152 Minutes

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English

Phillip Maher

Adapting a best-seller for the screen is normally a safe bet for a studio, but a decidedly risky proposition for a director. While there is a considerable built-in audience that is virtually guaranteed to buy a ticket, many of those viewers are predisposed to criticize the film because of its inevitable differences from the book. While the most dedicated fans of Stieg Larsson's international best-seller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo will find enough discrepancies in Niels Arden Oplev's film to help them achieve their nitpicking fix, it is difficult to imagine anyone exiting the theater feeling disappointed by this riveting thriller. Regardless of the story, readers know that the film will succeed or fail on the basis of its depiction of the book's most memorable character, the punk-rock Sherlock Lisbeth Salander, an investigator extraordinaire who prefers black leather, a spiked collar, and Doc Martens to her predecessor's cape coat, deerstalker hat, and loafers. Lisbeth is utterly embodied by Swedish starlet Noomi Rapace, who did a "De Niro" to prepare for the role by getting several real piercings, studying kickboxing and motorcycle riding, and losing a dangerous amount of weight to shrink into Lisbeth's skinny frame. Beneath the stoic composure required by Salander's extreme social estrangement, Rapace masterfully conveys her character's complex mixture of violence and vulnerability, often using only expression, gesture, and tone. Rapace's presence as Lisbeth is more of a manifestation than a performance, an astonishing achievement that is even more impressive considering the overwhelming global expectations for the role. Danish director Niels Arden Oplev (To Verdener) does an equally impressive disappearing act, as he resists the urge to immerse Larsson's pitch-dark plot with superfluous violence and cinematic flash. The film features one searing scene of a vicious assault against Salander that is absolutely harrowing and hard to watch, but Oplev (and Larsson) later reverse the positions of power to produce one of the most memorable scenes of redemptive violence in film history. These two scenes are so skillfully balanced against one another that their resonance of male aggression and its repercussions carries through the rest of the film, allowing Oplev to forego the necessity for further graphic depictions. After establishing this tone of grim urgency, the director uses the tools of his trade to meticulously heighten the tension and embellish the literary plot with injections of pure cinema, such as when Mikael Blomkvist (played with sedate determination by Michael Nyqvist) uses new technology to conjure a ghost from a series of old photographs. As the protagonists dig deeper into the central mystery, the scope and gravity of the crime accumulates and the pressure builds to a striking climax that flirts with Hollywood convention just long enough to enhance the shock and delight of its eventual vicissitude. Those who have never read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo will be mesmerized by the addictive mystery at its center, involving Nazis, biblical murders, and a family that forever redefines dysfunction. Those who already know the solution to the mystery can still relish Noomi Rapace's impeccable rendition of Lisbeth Salander while they scrutinize the screen for disparities that might drag it down below the novel on the imaginary scale of universal artistic quality. But this outstanding film is all that could be hoped for from such a prominent adaptation, which means that there will be plenty of room beneath it on that artistic scale for the inevitable Hollywood remake. ~ Phillip Maher, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Jacob Groth  Composer (Music Score) 
Soren Staermose  Producer 
Niels Arden Oplev  Director 
Nicolaj Arcel  Screenwriter 
Rasmus Heisterberg  Screenwriter 
Michael Nyqvist  Actor 
Noomi Rapace  Actor 
Lena Endre  Actor 
Sven-Bertil Taube  Actor 
Peter Haber  Actor 
Peter Andersson  Actor 
Marika Lagercrantz  Actor 
Ingvar Hirdwall  Actor 
Bjorn Granath  Actor 
Ewa Fröling  Actor 
Per Oscarsson  Actor 
Michalis Koutsogiannakis  Actor 
Annika Hallin  Actor 
Sofia Ledarp  Actor 
Thomas Kohler  Actor 
David Dencik  Actor 
Stefan Sauk  Actor 
Gösta Bredefeldt  Actor 
Fredrik Ohlsson  Actor 
Jacob Ericksson  Actor 
Gunnel Lindblom  Actor 
Reuben Sallmander  Actor 
Yasmine Garbi  Actor 
Margareta Stone  Actor 
Christian Fiedler  Actor 
Gyorgi Staykov  Actor 
Nina Norén  Actor 
Emil Almén  Actor 
Louise Ryme  Actor 
Pale Olofsson  Actor 
Mikael Rahm  Actor 
Willie Andréason  Actor 
Jan Mybrand  Actor 
Lennart R. Svensson  Actor 
Carl Oscar Törnros  Actor 
Kalled Mustonen  Actor 
Henrik Knutsson  Actor 
Barbro Enberg  Actor 
Ola Wallinder  Actor 
Alexandra Pascalidou  Actor 
Siewert Öholm  Actor 
Theilla Bladh  Actor 
Laura Lind  Actor 
Isabella Isacson  Actor 
Richard Franc  Actor 
Magnus Stenius  Actor 

Country: Sweden