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#28 – Män som hatar kvinnor – (89%)

Writer's picture: MyersMyers

Aha! So here we are again returning to a story already told in my list. Now the title up there is Swedish, and the literal translation means ‘Men who hate women’ where the rest of the world will know this story as ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’. Being the original it must be the best and for me the better version of the book. Released in 2009 some two years before the English-speaking version and 2nd on my subtitled movie list. Starring a list of names in Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Ingvar Hirdwall, Björn Granath, Lena Endre, Ewa Fröling, and Marika Lagercrantz, that anyone reading this probably hasn’t heard of (well maybe Noomi). The screenplay credit goes to Rasmus Heisterberg and Nikolaj Arcel. Produced by Søren Stærmose and directed by Niels Arden Oplev, the movie was made on a budget of $13m the success of this movie can be shown in the $104m return it made from the box office. Even the critics like it as well with IMDb giving it a creditable score of 7.8 out of 10 whilst Rotten Tomatoes gave it an 85% which is positive also. The author had written a trilogy and the movies followed suit which covers the story arch of the two main characters across the three movies. Onto the plot? Ok here goes (again)

Journalist Mikael Blomkvist has been disgraced in a legal case which has a fall out of a libel suit brought against him by businessman Hans-Erik Wennertröm. Mickael has a lot of luck with the ladies but is divorced but having a long-term relationship with his business partner Erika. She is married and her husband is aware of the arrangement but doesn’t really talk about it. Together they have a magazine called Millennium which this libel and court case will have a knock-on effect to the magazine. It could ruin it so Blomkvist decides to give up his name on the business and go into hiding to let the dust settle and leave the magazine to build itself up again. Meanwhile a young investigator called Lisbeth Salander has been hired to investigate Blomkvist, she is a hacker and uses it to dig up dirt on lots of nasty people out there. She uses her skills to dig up the dirt on Mikael but surprisingly for her she doesn’t really find any. She reports this back and the secret hirer of her services makes their decision. Mikael is contacted by a mystery source and asked to investigate a murder case that was never solved. Meanwhile Lisbeth’s legal guardian a state-appointed role after her difficult upbringing suffers a stroke and is replaced by Nils Bjurman. A sadist who wants to control her entire life and forces her into sexual favours to get her money or if she doesn’t, he will ensure she is institutionalised. Mikael is asked to go and live in a cabin and investigate the death of the grandniece of Henrik Vanger a wealthy successful retired businessman. Mikael stumbles on the report of his investigation and traces it back to the hacker who has decided to sort out the situation with Bjurman with the use of a taser, tattoo equipment, a camera, a dildo, a gun, some ties, and a set of demands that Nils Bjurman couldn’t refuse. Mikael confronts Lisbeth and is impress with her work so wants to hire her to help him with his investigation. Hence the two come together to investigate the missing assumed murdered girl whose case is forty years old.

OK so here we are again talking about this story. This time I think it’s the best version as it has some very raw scenes that were a bit shocking the first time, I saw this movie. This story completes itself but still sets up the next movie without really realising it the viewer. The fact you realise that there are some feelings from Lisbeth for Mikael but Mikael will never change. Honest, truthful but he likes his fun. For Lisbeth to reach that conclusion by the conclusion of the movie and then have it ripped away from her sets up a peeved Lisbeth for the next story and boy was she annoyed and now no longer tied down to money and life standing issues she is free to do whatever she likes, and boy does she! If you haven’t read the book, she has quite a journey from book one to book two ahead of the story taking shape. OK the second story isn’t as good as this one but it’s all worth your time. Honestly trust me this is a good trilogy to dive into and try to work out for yourself. There is a nice and happier ending than expected based on the sheer raw story that proceeded it but it’s worth it for the revenge, counter and comeuppance of the whole thing. If you cannot stand the subtitles, then watch the Daniel Craig version then come back to the Swedish versions to follow it on or better still go read the books they are fantastic.

Next up is just a sci-fi movie in the middle of a sequence of sci-fi movies…

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