The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Niels Arden Oplev

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, is a swedish film, based on a very popular book (part of a series of three).  40 Years ago, Harriet disappeared from a family gathering, her Uncle has dedicated his life to finding out the truth. He hires a renowned journalist Blomkvist to help find out the real story, who is currently having his own battle after being set up and faces a prison sentence.  Lisbeth is a hacker who becomes involved in the story (who has her own demons to face) and ends up helping Blomkvist discover the truth. (Yes all slightly confusing till you watch the film/read the book where it all makes a lot more sense.)

I liked this film, as much as i like the book. It is a slightly confusing and intricate storyline but it all becomes clear as the plot carries out. I love the fact like the book it was directed in Sweden, therefore not loosing its cultural roots.  You can either choose to watch it in Swedish with subtitles or with English Dub (we choose the later as both being tired we didn't want to read subtitles) and although i found the dub annoying i still loved the film.  

It is quite a raw book, with a lot of drama and harrowing issues, all brought much more to life by the visual side of seeing it in film. Whereas the book you can almost detach yourself from thinking about some of the issues to much.  However, I still liked the film and thought it was very well done.  It also stuck to the book quite well and managed to pull out most of the important parts of the story. Although, the book was quite large you obviously have to cut out a lot of it to fit into a 2 1/2 hour film.  It also helped me understand the plot a bit more watching it on a visual screen, but i do think you could watch the film without reading the book. Although i think this book and its others are worth a read.  

Overall I think this is a good film, albeit a bit raw in scenes. A lot of covering my eyes and cringing throughout.