Three films. Nearly nine hours in one sitting. Was it worth it? Yes. People gave Hornet’s Nest a lot of flack because of its slower pacing, but I still think it stands up well. Larsson’s books were largely responsible for introducing me to crime noir and a teenager, and the high quality of his prose is reflected in these three adaptations. Read on for some rough commentary notes for Dragon Tattoo (and some very rough ramblings for the other two, by which point I’d lost the energy for taking detailed, coherent notes).
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The opening image shows Henrik Vanger’s hand opening a parcel with a knife; even though the knife is employed in an innocent action, it sets up the idea that violence is going to be a central element throughout this trilogy.
The hand-drawn opening titles (which remain the same throughout the three movies) feel really unusual and novel; it’s nice to just watch an intriguing series of static pictures rather than just being thrown into a series of frantic moving images (I do love the opening sequence of David Fincher’s version with Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor’s Immigrant Song cover though).
Despite the dramatic nature of events, it’s nice to have that paired-back, cold, Swedish noir atmosphere (although it is kind of funny to watch the more American-like dramatic cuts when a character is making a big discovery while they’re doing research).
It’s weird seeing David Dencik here, because I just picture him as Toby Esterhase from Tinker Tailot Soldier Spy. But then again, it’s not so weird, because he plaid an untrustworthy snake in this film, and he played an untrustworthy snake in Tinker Tailor too.
Silence is used particularly powerfully and horrifyingly in ‘that’ scene with new handler Nils B, cultivating terror from what we don’t hear. Also, tattoo needle + tazer = revenge.
Even though I know the primary antagonist, the moment when Lisbeth Salander realises his identity is satisfying as hell, and it’s a testament to Stieg Larsson’s masterful plotting.
The Girl Who Played With Fire
Fuck you Zalachenko >:(
Molotov cocktail WOO 😀
(Thus concludes my minimal note taking for that entry. The film is high quality, but that steaming hot weather didn’t allow the effective double-tasking of note taking and film watching, so I decided to prioritise the latter activity)
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest
Fuck you [various characters] >:((
Nail gun as an effective weapon WOO :DD
(Again, not much enlightening content here as my mind became progressively baked by the lovely heatwave, but this is also a fine film. Noomi Rapace’s performance throughout the trilogy is exceptional, and she needs more attention. If you’re not averse to subtitles, all these films are fantastic, intricately plotted and executed. Perhaps a heatwave wasn’t the best time to watch a heavy load of dark, cold, Swedish crime noir, but never mind. That was nine hours well spent, even if the prose suffers just a tad in the last two entries).