A great movie, adapted from an even better book.

Rating: 8/10 (18 February 2012)

Read this review on my blog: Two Bullets,Five Zombies --> http://wp.me/p1MQmC-7r
Did I ever mention how much I love David Fincher? The guy's is genius! With movies like Fight Club, Se7en and The Social Network, he could very well be one of the best directors of the century. Fincher added his dark touch to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and it worked; the movie is beautifully directed and the opening scene is breathtaking. The opening sequence isn't only visually stunning, it also indirectly refers to many of the book's/movie's themes and the music is just creepy and perfect for the movie.
he book-to-movie adaptation tells the story of a woman in her early twenties, declared incompetent by the court after a mysterious, tough childhood. Being a first class hacker, Lisbeth can find all kinds of information about anyone and anything. She works as a researcher for Milton Security and end up helping a journalist, Mikael Blomkvist, catch a rapist murderer.
The movie stayed somewhat faithful to the book. A few minor details were changed; Mikael does not serve a prison sentence, the fact that Mikael's father worked for the Vangers and lived on the island is not mentioned, Mikael's and Cecilia's romantic relationship doesn't happen in the movie, Lisbeth's mother is never mentioned and Lisbeth doesn't think that Palmgren (her previous guardian) is dead, instead she visits him regularly. Lisbeth tells Mikael that she has been declared mentally incompetent and that she tried to kill her father, although he sort of figures that out himself in the second book. The biggest change is the ending; instead of moving to Australia and starting a family, Harriet is living under Anita's identity after Anita's passing.
Rooney Mara is how I imagined Lisbeth Salander to look and be like, just maybe a bit tougher. Mara's performance is amazing and believable, she deserves the Oscar nomination and I'm rooting for her. Honestly, when I first heard that Mikael will be played be Daniel Craig, I wasn't that thrilled; Blomkvist is nothing like bond, he's smart and quick-witted, yet sort of weak and sensitive. He's also a journalist, not the world's favorite spy. I realized I was wrong from the first scene, Daniel Craig made a great Blomkvist, his performance wasn't as good as Mara's but I can't deny his awesomeness! I also liked the movie's Bjurman, played by Yorick van Wageningen. In fact, the only character I didn't like was Erika, played by Robin Wright. Robin Wright is a great actress, yet Erika didn't seem real, she wasn't spontaneous or friendly or anything other than fake for some reason.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is banned from Jordanian theaters, so I had to get it on DVD. I now understand why the movie was banned, I'm not really that bothered by such scenes (sex, rape..etc), but it's not something I'd like to watch either. I had to fast-forward/skip some scenes, but these scenes shouldn't stop anyone from watching the movie because they deliver a message or a cause. You know, like abuse (mostly sexual) and men who hate women Something along those lines.
So A great movie, adapted from an even better book. See the movie if you haven't and read the trilogy if you didn't!