What I Think of: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the 2009 film adaptation by the book of the same name and directed by Niels Arden Oplev. Similar to the book, it follows Millennium journalist, Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), in his investigation on the disappearance of Harriet Vanger, the beloved niece of Vanger Corporation CEO, Henrik. During his investigation, Blomkvist requested a researcher to help him go through old archives and follow up leads. Here, he meets Lisbeth Salander(Noomi Rapace), an anti-social introvert who has a thing for black attire and multiple piercings. She is one of Milton Security's best researcher, and unbeknownst to Blomkvist, one of the world's renown computer hackers. They start working closely with each other unraveling the truth about Harriet.

I have read the book and now watched the film and though I was not sure if Rapace looked the part of Salander, she definitely nailed her attitude. Nyqvist was perfect in look and character. I think the screenwriter and director did a great job at capturing the story that felt true to the book with modifications that felt right for a film. It did not bog down in the details, where in a book it's great to paint the picture but in film, can be unnecessary and confusing. Some characters were omitted / played a smaller part, which was fine as it was not integral to the overall story. I enjoyed the film as it was fairly true to the book and though I don't speak Swedish, the acting was great and met my expectations for the characters, and the drama unfolded in a timely fashion (not drawn out, nor abrupt). Definitely worth the watch.