Movie Review: Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a brilliant Swedish crime thriller based on the first in the popular Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson.

Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering without trace. Her uncle believes she was murdered by a family member and has been receiving an annual gift of framed flowers from various places around the world. The body has never been found. He employs Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), a journalist who has been convicted of slander and is waiting for his prison sentence to start. He is joined by punk computer hacker, Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) when events coincide to bring them together. As they investigate the disappearance, they begin to uncover an appalling family history and their lives are placed in increasing danger.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an incredibly intense, atmospheric crime thriller that is totally engaging with the 2½ hours seeming to go in an instant. The story is superbly developed with the revelation of what is going on at just the right moment.

The standout performance is Noomi Rapace who plays the punk computer hacker, Lisbeth, with great depth and nuance. She is compelling and the personal history and current circumstances of her life are shocking as we learn more about her character's background leading to profound emotional scarring and baggage. Lisbeth is one of the most intriguing, fresh, complex heroines to come along in crime fiction. In fact, the character of Lisbeth Salamander is almost more interesting than the story of the movie itself!

The direction is spot-on with the cold, oppressive Swedish winter providing an apt backdrop to the unfolding events. The music eerily and suspensefully supports the narrative.

I haven't read the book on which this movie is based. But I have to say that, after watching the movie, I'm sorely tempted to do so. The movie is, at times, very hard to watch as much of it is very disturbing — particularly what Lisbeth has to bear to survive her life. One of the core themes of the movie is violence against women and no punches are pulled in representing this. The original Swedish title of the book was "Men Who Hate Women" and is, perhaps, a more apt title for the themes of the story.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is one of the most compelling crime thrillers I've seen in a long time...

Positive Review
'A compelling thriller to begin with, but it adds the rare quality of having a heroine more fascinating than the story.' - Roger Ebert/Chicago Sun-Times

Negative Review
'Though Ms. Rapace is a fine professional scowler, with cheekbones that thrust like knives and a pout that’s mostly pucker, she tends to register as an intriguing idea instead of a thoroughly realized character. She more or less looks the part that the filmmakers don’t let her fully play.' -

Manohla Dargis/The New York Times

AUS: MA
USA: R

Technorati Tags: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,crime,thriller

Movie Review: Green Zone

Released: 2010

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Green Zone is great entertainment with a message of substance.

Matt Damon plays Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller who leads a number of raids in Iraq on sites that are suspected of hiding weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Each time nothing is found and Miller begins to wonder why — particularly when casualties start mounting up. He starts to question the intelligence reports coming in and speaks out publicly in a briefing. He is basically told to mind his business and get on with his job. After meeting with a CIA man with long experience in Iraq and a New York newspaperwoman whose articles supported the US claims of WMD in Iraq, Miller begins to think the intelligence has been deceitfully constructed for political reasons. He becomes involved in a complex series of actions to make sure that the deceit surrounding the justification of the war under the guise of finding WMD is brought to light.

Green Zone is a very fast-paced action thriller that has a complex but easily followed plot line. The fact that the story intersects with contemporary themes and facts makes it highly relevant — even if it is difficult to distinguish fact from fiction. Green Zone, it must be remembered, is fiction despite its allusions to well-known history. But it's a fantastic ride and makes a very significant point about the treatment of the Iraqi army and the desperate need that people have in Iraq to make their own choices.

Whatever the faults of Green Zone), they are overshadowed by superb pacing, excellent camera work, great storytelling, and gritty realism. Peter Greengrass, the director, brings all his action skills from previous movies The Bourne Ultimatum and The Bourne Supremacy and ties them to a story that unabashedly confronts the political situation surrounding the war in Iraq. Real life characters such as New York Times reporter Judith Miller and Iraqi politician Achmed Chalabi, have fictional counterparts in the movie.

The beauty of Green Zone is that the message of the movie doesn't overwhelm the entertainment of a great thriller. It kept me on the edge of my seat for its nearly 2 hour length. Loved it!

 

Positive Review
"It is a thriller, not a documentary. It's my belief that the nature of the neocon evildoing has by now become pretty clear. Others will disagree. The bottom line is: This is one hell of a thriller.' - Roger Ebert/Chicago Sun-Times

Negative Review
'Green Zone is an exercise in commercial cowardice masquerading as a thriller about political bravery.' - Ray Greene/Boxoffice Magazine

Content Advice
Violence and language

AUS: M
USA: R

Technorati Tags: Green Zone,Iraq war,weapons of mass destruction