Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) is a disgraced Swedish financial reporter. He was set up, basically innocent, but took on powerful people who didn’t like him. When he finds himself out of work with nowhere to go with his career, he takes on a dubious job from one of the wealthiest individuals in Sweden, industrialist Henrik Vanger (Christoper Plummer). The cover story is that he wants him to write his biography, but the actual objective is to find out what happened to Vanger’s niece, who disappeared without a trace 40 years earlier. He suspects one of the many eccentric family members killed her. When Mikael needs research help, he finds Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), a 24-year-old hacker, who lives the life of a punker, but is an exceptional researcher and background checker. Lisbeth has her own demons to fight, but is ready to help Mikael.
This movie was produced in 2011. Oddly, I found another movie of the same title and based on the same book produced in 2009.
This film follows closely the plot of the novel by Stieg Larsson, which I reviewed here in 2010. Having now read the book and watched the movie, as usual, the book is way more detailed and descriptive than the movie, but both are reasonably good entertainment. If you checked my book review you will have noticed that I had decided not to read the other Larsson books, and ten years later I can say that I stuck with that decision.
The movie is rated R and not for the faint of heart. There are some really graphic torture and brutally violent rape scenes in this film that leave nothing to the imagination.
The story follows the plot of the novel closely, but even if you have read the book, the movie will be entertaining and fairly unique. We’re not used to watching action thrillers playing in “the old country” with its different mores and cultural norms.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo won an Oscar for Best Achievement in Film Editing, and Rooney Mara was nominated for the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role.