On M List of Movie Reviews
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Män som hatar kvinnor (2009)
Rate:
7
Viewed:
10/26
10/26:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo isn't the correct translation for Män som hatar kvinnor which
means Men Who Hate Women in Swedish.
Even the tattoo is absolutely ugly...the worst I've seen in cinema history. Unbeknownst to me, I started with
the David Fincher's version before realizing it was a remake. Then, I gave it a poor review. After seeing
the original, the remake now feels 100% artificial. However, most of my review still applies with some positive
comments as follows.
The acting is generally good. How Lisbeth Salander looks in this is a massive improvement. She's also much more
normal, rarely trying to be a super badass female, but the silly platform shoes have to G...O. The other one
would've stopped anyone dead in his tracks, being forced to stare at her for an interminably long time. As
for the guy, I can see how Hollywood went "Hmm, he looks like Daniel Craig, so let's get him."
What helps the most is the streamlined storytelling. It gets to the point, doesn't encumber me with lots of
characters, and is well-paced. However, the movie is too long. Over forty minutes needs to be cut out.
Although the backstory in regard to Salander is considerably less, I still maintain my stance that it should've
been held to a minimum by just presenting her as a research assistant. That way, the gross rape stuff will be
virtually cut out.
I like the mystery aspect, but once again, it becomes blah afterwards. In the remake, I laughed when
Salander was using Google, an utterly worthless search engine, to get info. Here, it's eliminated, showing
different databases which is totally fine by me. The movie is rather research-based, and that's the film's
biggest strength, reminding me of Spoorloos at times because
of the serial killer.
All in all, although too long, Män som hatar kvinnor isn't that bad and should be seen over
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.