Now that the Dragon Tattoo debate has died down, I'm ready to throw in my two cents' worth. I really liked it. I haven't seen the Swedish version, and I haven't read the books. I'm not sure why everyone's saying the story is trash. Is it just because it was an airport novel? Or because it was super popular? Or because it's a thriller/mystery? I didn't read the book, so I'm not really understanding that. I haven't seen Breaking Bad, so those comparisons are lost on me. ;)
Anyway, regardless, I thought Fincher was totally the person for this job, and I thought his style was perfect to convey the story - you guys have pretty much covered it all. I am a Fincher fan (although not blindly... to be honest I haven't been able to sit through all of Benjamin Button yet), and while this wasn't my favorite of his, I thought he was back in his element a bit with this one. I loved all the detail and precision and - as you guys have said - obsession. I think it made this the best version of the movie it could be. Although I should say, the thing I liked best about the movie was Mara's performance. She made the movie for me. I think that's a tough role to play, but she had me totally convinced.
I've been getting into a lot of arguments this week with people about the "big" scenes in this movie. People keep saying the scene where she takes her revenge on the social worker is way worse than the one where she gets raped by him. That infuriates me. I pushed the people I talked to on the issue and the consensus has been that it's probably because people are used to seeing women get raped or some semblance of that because of porn and stuff, but when it's a guy getting something shoved up his ass it's shocking. Other people I talked to have said there shouldn't be any of these kinds of scenes in a movie ever because nobody wants to see or think about stuff like that. I understand why they say that, but I think it's good that this is making people so uncomfortable, because sexual assault is like a huge serious issue that's kind of taboo, and I think it's good when movies make us confront those kinds of things that we don't want to think about. (Although I think if someone has been a victim of sexual assault this is one they should skip, because like one of you said, I don't know how you could sit through watching that.) I know there's debate about the motives of Larsson, but since I haven't read it and don't really know anything about him, I can't really say anything. But regardless I thought it was handled well by Fincher. I thought it was as long as it needed to be, and I thought the details like the floor cleaner made the situations that much more real and that much more horrifying. This stuff IS horrifying.
I think because of the nature of the characters in this it might be hard for people to connect with them, and the nature of some of the subject material might also put a damper on things for people. And this following the Swedish version I'm sure does not help things. But I did connect with the characters, and the subject material didn't bother me, and I didn't see the Swedish version. And I love a thriller/mystery, as you guys know. So yeah, I really liked it. I really have loved reading all of your opinions on it too, it kind of makes me want to watch the Swedish version now.
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