Page to Screen - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

I was pretty bummed when The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo movie didn't play near me. But it's a foreign flick and our Boulder theater that typically played foreigns is closed. So it seemed I would be waiting for the DVD release after all.

And then it had a very long wait in the rental queue, but it was on play instantly. I made some chicken chilli and curled up with the remote and went to town.

My first thoughts were that it was very well done, but very brutal. Of course the book is pretty brutal, but it's harder for me to see that on screen than it is for me to read it.

Another thing that struck me was that they're pretty good at adaptations over there. The core of the book was still there, but many of the small details that I remember were also still there. I have to wonder, though, how much of it will hit the cutting room floor or not be included at all in the American version. And in this case, I'm kind of ok with that. Sure the book is fantastic, but in films, I kind of prefer that certain types of violence be inferred rather than in your face, i.e. the scenes between Lisbeth and her "social worker."

Noomi Rapace was pretty amazing as Lisbeth. As of right now, I see that Carrie Mulligan is rumored to be playing the character in the US version. Not sure I like that choice. I see her too often as a polished waspy character to see her as the kick ass, damaged genius that is Lisbeth. Director David Fincher (Zodiac and Se7en, amongst others) and screenplay writer Steven Zaillian (Schindler's List and Hannibal -- again amongst others) are also supposed to be on board. And IMDB shows Daniel Craig as Blomqvist, which I think is a pretty good choice considering he gets around so much and Craig is hot.

I'm on the fence with the books right now. Basically I thought that The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was as brilliantly fantastic as it was hyped up to be. The Girl Who Played With Fire has stumped me, though, and I've not yet resumed reading it.

Overall, as I said a great adaptation and a pretty good flick. I'm not as against an American remake as I was, mostly because I'm interested to see how it's going to be handled.