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

14 cast members have also appeared in the Swedish "Wallander" series, including Lena Endre, who played Prosecutor Katarina Ahlsell in the second series.

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Goofs

When Mikael discovers the names and numbers in the back of Harriet's diary, Harriet's voiceover reads them (and they are visibly written) as "Magda, Sara, BJ, LJ, Mari". Later in the film, "LJ" is changed to "LI" with no explanation.

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Quotes

Mikael Blomkvist: What has happened to you? How did you turn out this way? You know everything about me. I don't know shit about you. Not a damn thing.
Lisbeth Salander: That's the way it is.

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Connections

Spoofed in Robot Chicken: Punctured Jugular (2012)

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Soundtracks

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

User Reviews

Great Swedish thriller

This film was very well-made with superb cinematography. The actors all portray their respective characters perfectly, although Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander, Michael Nyqvist as Michael Blomkvist and Sven-Bertil Taube as Hanrik Vanger deserve a special mentioning. They are all very likable and believable.

The films story is very exciting and puzzling (for those that haven't read the book) and the pace is steady with some really tense situations. The investigation part of the story is excellent. Although it is 2.5 hours long it is never boring.

The soundtrack was also very fitting and helped to set the mood of the film. This is far above any other Scandinavian thriller production, and I look forward to the rest of the films/series.

I recommend it to anyone!