Hollywood remakes exciting Swedish thriller

This is the Hollywood version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the first of the bestselling Swedish Millenium trilogy, although all three books already exist as perfectly good Swedish films.

Hollywood had to remake it their way, but except for the big names in the cast and the inclusion of more of the story compared to the 2009 Swedish version, it isn’t all that different.

Daniel Craig plays a discredited Swedish reporter who is hired by a wealthy industrialist (Christopher Plummer) to find out what happened to his neice Harriet, who disappeared mysteriously 40 years ago. Plummer has tried to solve the mystery most of his life, but outside of deciding it was someone in the family, since they were all stranded on an island at the time, he hasn’t found an answer.

Rooney Mara plays the intelligent, bisexual, goth, body-pierced, computer hacker of the title who helps Craig solve the mystery which involves two serial killers and ritualistic murders.

While it is unpleasant at times this is an exciting, well-made thriller that moves along well despite its length. Except for some changes at the end it follows the book closely, but if you’ve read the book and seen the 2009 version this reviewer is not sure why one would want to go through the experience again.

A warning: especially if you haven’t read the book. There is nasty violence, rape, nudity and explicit sex that many will find disquieting.

Rating: four deer out of five

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Alf Cryderman is a Red Deer freelance writer and old movie buff.