Hollywood is all abuzz about “The Millenium Trilogy”. Based upon a series of novels by the late Steig Larsson, they revolve around the exploits of hacker extraordinaire Lisabeth Salander and her cohort Mikhail Blomkvist. I have not yet read these books, which is a bit unusual.
Why? Because the films have already been made – in Sweden. The first in the set, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, was released theatrically at the close of last year.
That’s right – LAST YEAR. How ridiculous is that? I know that Hollywood counts on the memories of the cinematic public to be short, but THAT SHORT? How insulting.
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” is a gritty, grainy looking film, like something from the 70s or 80s. It’s supposed to be that way. For the first ten minutes of its rather long 2.5 hour run time, it’s a neat trick. About halfway through you can’t help but wonder what they’re going to do when they have a decent sized budget.
The story is extremely interesting, although I can’t really see it translating to the States well. Blomkvist is a respected journalist who is accused of and jailed for libel against a very powerful organization. He needs to clear his name. In the meantime, he is also hired by a dying tycoon to find out who killed his lost relative.
What makes the story work isn’t really the premise - which can get outlandish and dated at times - it’s the relationship between Salander and Blomkvist. Both of these people are damaged and alone, and you don’t need subtitles to see it. I attribute this to the performances of both the leads. There are lots of chase scenes created by someone who actually knows how to choreograph such things. And even though there are times that you need a bit of a leap of faith to get past the obvious clichés, it’s still a great idea. By the end, you do want to know what happens to the characters going forward. I think it also helps that both are unknown to me. If you put established actors in these roles (*cough * Mulligan and Craig), I don’t see it working as well.
I’m sure there will things needing “updating” or “revision”. The original title of the film is “Millenium #1: Men Who Hate Women”. Parts of it are EXTREMELY misogynistic and violent. There are a few scenes that will have to be scaled down – only one of which isn’t necessary to advance the story. American audiences can’t handle it.
The other two films have already been completed and released in Sweden. The second is about to hit US audiences soon. The third has no US release date yet (possibly because the book was just released here a few months ago). I think I’ll stay with the foreign version for now, before I look to the “updated” or “revamped” version. The only Glamorizing I’m interested in right now belongs on “True Blood”.
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