I read Millennium Issue I: Men Who Hate Women (Män som hatar kvinnor, but better known in English as the inoffensively enigmatic The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) during January 2010. For those of you who don't know, it's the first novel of a trilogy that Swedish journalist Stieg Larsson delivered in toto to his publisher before unexpectedly dying. The books have become a bit of a sensation, and even in an English translation that's a bit rough in places, it's easy to see why. They are all lengthy in word count, but filled with fascinating characters - especially Lisbeth Salander - and the first book is a fairly decent thriller plot intertwined with industrial and big business corruption.
Timing. See. Big banks nearly bring the world into a depression that would have made the 1930s look cozy (excuse the hyperbole, but I'm lifting the feel from the more excited newspaper headlines of a couple of years ago). Sweden publishes a story that's in large part about corporate greed versus heroic journalism. Even the serial killer plot can be read as a metaphor for corporate evil and excess.
It was one of those inevitabilities that there would be a film, but I didn't look into that while I was enjoying reading the book. I wanted to savour the books (I'm now about 180 pages into Issue 2). I started to see posters in the London Underground and remember being slightly puzzled by the absence of any Hollywood names on them. I didn't pay that much attention, to be honest, and didn't bother even with the small print. Then I saw a review via an iPhone app (Flixster, if you're remotely interested) that made reference to catching this Swedish version before Hollywood screw it up (their words).
Done.
Unlike almost every other film adaptation I've seen, this one didn't disappoint. Of course it had to cut a lot of material from the book, and even then it's two and a half hours long. Doesn't drag, either, despite some leisurely shot scenes. They seem to have thought carefully about which scenes to keep in - most are important, if not to the first story, then probably the rest of the books and therefore films - and what they can safely remove. The largest bits were the cover story for Blomqvist's investigations at the behest of Henrik Vanger, the details of Blomqvist's sexual relationship with Erika Berger, and the details of Salander's role in bringing down the unseen menace of one of the corrupt industrialists (unnamed to avoid spoilers). Generally, though, it's astoundingly close to the book, particularly the climactic or pivotal moments like the sexual assaults.
One big problem that most screen adaptations have is living up to what the readers have conjured in their imaginations. This is especially so with striking characters like Lisbeth Salander. Salander is the girl with the dragon tattoo, and in the film it is one amazingly breathtaking tattoo. It's nothing like the demure one on the English cover of the books (see above). What I love about her in the books is that she's extraordinary, but yet complex and believable. She's flawed - damaged - far from invincible, vulnerable and yet able to look after herself and get revenge. She's someone who doesn't really fit in anywhere, but she knows who she is (as far as anyone does in their early twenties) and is her own person. If only the law didn't get in the way. I did have an image in my head of her, and because I didn't know Noomi Rapace until I saw the film I was astonished at just how much she fit physically. It must be an amazingly difficult role to play without letting it slip into silliness. She's also gorgeously bisexual - and it won't be a surprise if Hollywood omits that facet, and interesting to see how that would play out in the second film if that was the case. Hollywood - please, prove us wrong.
I am in the group that prefers the Swedish title for both book and film, even though it's probably too blunt for audiences. The subtlety of the English title works more for the second book (which so far is exploring in greater detail Salander's body image difficulties).
Finally - read it, and do check out the Swedish film. I'm glad there's another two books and films to look forward to, with pretty much the same cast (if the reports I've read are correct).
22 March 2010: Go to 0tralala for another take on the film and books with some points I missed here. It's in the post about some reviewers in the Independent and Guardian newspapers not actually seeing what they cast judgement on.
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