"The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo"

I stayed in all day yesterday and up most of the night last night finishing this engrossing book. It didn't take very long to get pulled into the story. I've discovered this year that I really love mystery stories. I've been a fan of romance, fantasy, science-fiction, and epic novels. My book club has introduced me to a whole new realm of reading pleasure, but I still enjoy some "Top 40"-type books like this one. I've also discovered since Harry Potter, that I enjoy reading the book before watching the movie. This morning, Larry and I did just that with "Dish On Demand".

The story is set in Sweden, and is extremely dark: not just the story, but the movie as well. It was difficult to see a lot of the scenes because they were shot at night or in dark old rooms. Larry asked, "Why are Swedish movies always so dark?" I don't believe this is a Swedish film, per se, because the director is from Colorado. However, the book was written by a Swedish author. But the scenery in the movie looked very much like I'd imagined it from reading the book: very, very cold.

Lisbeth Salander, played by Rooney Mara is a ward of the state because she was declared mentally incompetent. However, she is extremely intelligent with a photographic memory and exceptional computer hacking skills, as well as being skilled with anything mechanical. She is also tapped into a network of very clever techno-geeks whose skills prove very useful throughout this story of investigation on many levels. She is hired to produce a detailed report about a "disgraced journalist", Mikael Blomkvist, played by Daniel Craig. This is the most subdued role I've seen Mr. Craig play to date. Very different from his "007" role or any other action-adventure character from his career. I did enjoy watching his vulnerable side.

Because of Lisbeth's societally documented mental state and violent behavior, she is permanently assigned a Legal Guardian. I guess in Sweden one is required to have a guardian even after reaching adult age in this situation. Her first, very lenient guardian dies (not in the movie), and she is assigned to another, very sadistic man, who sexually tortures her before granting her access to her allowance. She teaches him a very painful lesson and moves on. There is lots of sadistic sex in this story: very sick and demented stuff. The movie thankfully did not elaborate these scenes in graphic details.

Blomkvist is hired by Henrik Vanger, played by Christopher Plummer, to investigate the 40-year-old disappearance of his favorite niece. Vanger assumes she was murdered by a family member, and has been obsessed with her loss during much of his life. Blomkvist is tried in the courts for unsuccessfully proving that Hans-Erik Wennerstrom, a powerful billionaire, is a crook in an expose he published in the financial investigative magazine he started with his partner and part-time lover, the married Erika Berger, played by Robin Wright, called Millenium.. He is sentenced to pay a huge fine which drains his life savings, and goes to jail for three months. But jail-time does not come before he is hired by Vanger to investigate his niece's murder under the guise of writing a family biopic.

The story has many twist and turns and I found it difficult to put down. I loved the process of his investigation that lead to his requiring a research assistant. Vanger's attorney had the name of a good one: the one who investigated Blomkvist before Vanger proposed hiring him: Lisbeth Salander. Ms. Mara does an excellent job portraying this very strange and withdrawn young woman with intelligence beyond her years. I've never seen her in any other movie, but she was very convincing, and I enjoyed her performance very much. She and Craig have a palpable chemistry that I also enjoyed watching. Robin Wright's role as Berger was pretty thin and I thought maybe she really needed the work to accept this one. It was one that, in my opinion, did not use her talents well at all. The movie version of Erika was skimpy at best compared to the printed version.

The scenery of the movie was very pretty, but was not as complete as I would have liked. Much of the movie was shot indoors. However, the movie plot followed the book's pretty well until the end. I won't spoil it for any of you who read the book and plan to see the movie. I encourage you to see it. It's not as graphic as the book, and you won't have to cover your eyes at all. The move took a little bit of artistic liberty with the storyline, but it didn't spoil the overall entertainment value.  If for no other reason, you can see Daniel Craig's ass, which is very nice.