The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

A journalist is aided by a young female hacker in his search for the killer of a woman who has been dead for forty years.

Director:

Niels Arden Oplev

Writers:

Nikolaj Arcel (screenplay), Rasmus Heisterberg (screenplay)

Stars:

Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Ewa Fröling

Won 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 17 wins & 35 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Nyqvist	...	Mikael Blomkvist
Noomi Rapace	...	Lisbeth Salander
Lena Endre	...	Erika Berger
Sven-Bertil Taube	...	Henrik Vanger
Peter Haber	...	Martin Vanger
Peter Andersson	...	Nils Bjurman
Marika Lagercrantz	...	Cecilia Vanger
Ingvar Hirdwall	...	Dirch Frode
Björn Granath	...	Gustav Morell
Ewa Fröling	...	Harriet Vanger
Michalis Koutsogiannakis	...	Dragan Armanskij
Annika Hallin	...	Annika Giannini
Sofia Ledarp	...	Malin Eriksson
Tomas Köhler	...	'Plague' (as Thomas Köhler)
David Dencik	...	Janne Dahlman

Storyline

Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle suspects murder and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the tattooed, ruthless computer hacker Lisbeth Salander to investigate. When the pair link Harriet's disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from almost forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history; but, the Vangers are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves.

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Plot Keywords:

disappearance | journalist | hacker | female hacker | f rated | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for disturbing violent content including rape, grisly images, sexual material, nudity and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site [Spain]

Country:

Sweden Denmark Germany Norway

Language:

Swedish English

Release Date:

30 April 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Filming Locations:

Tabernas, Almería, Andalucía, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

$13,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

SEK 18,014,459 (Sweden), 1 March 2009, Limited Release

Opening Weekend USA:

$335,502, 21 March 2010, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$10,095,170, 24 February 2011

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$104,395,170

Company Credits

Production Co:

Yellow Bird, ZDF Enterprises, Sveriges Television (SVT)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

152 min 180 min (extended) 186 min (Extended Version) (Part 1 & 2)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS (5.1)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When having dinner at Martin Vanger's house, Mikael is offered a 21-year-old whiskey. This is Bushmills 21-year-old single malt, the oldest Irish single malt whiskey available as of release.

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Goofs

When Lisbeth is shown as a girl, the character very clearly has a dark freckle in the center of her nose. The adult Lisbeth has no such freckle.

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Quotes

Mikael Blomkvist: [about Martin Vanger] For fuck's sake, Lisbeth. His father trained him to murder at age sixteen. Anyone would be sick in the head with that kind of upbringing.
Lisbeth Salander: Shut up about the victimizisation! He almost killed you. He raped and murdered and he enjoyed it. He had the same chances as us to chose what he wanted to be. He was no victim. He was a sadistic motherfucker who hated women.

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Connections

Spoofed in No lo llames amor... llámalo X (2011)

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Soundtracks

Eccomi Qui
Music by Sara Indrio Jensen (as Sara Indrio) & The Filin Project

User Reviews

Excellent thriller

This Swedish film is one of the best thrillers I've seen in a long time. Based on a best seller novel by Stieg Larsson I haven't read (the first in a trilogy), it starts with Mikael, a middle aged investigative journalist being asked by the old patriarch of a powerful business clan to solve the disappearance of his beloved 16 year old nephew forty years ago. Since this happened during a family reunion at an isolated island, the patriarch believes that she was murdered, and that only a member of the family could have done so. Mikael is soon joined in the investigation by Lisbeth Salander, a troubled but brilliant twenty something female hacker, and soon they are lifting the veil on the very dark secrets behind this prestigious family. Gripping throughout, the film benefits from a number of terrific performances, especially Noomi Rapace playing Lisbeth Salander and Sven Bertil Taube as the patriarch of the clan. While the film is more than two hours long, it is never boring, and all the loose ends are tied brilliantly at the end.