Hollywood- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I must say, I was quite intrigued to see the film after viewing the trailer.  There was a lot of hype about the book and it was recommended to me that I read it but I never got around to it so I was very excited to watch the film when it came out.  I knew there was a small film that had already been released about the movie that didn’t get much of a following so it would be interesting to see how this one would fare.  The movie was unlike any I had ever seen before.  Written by a Swedish writer but made by American filmmakers, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is very much a story within a story.  Set in Sweden, it is about a journalist Mikael Blomkvist who consults the help of a girl named Lisbeth Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo and an outcast from society, to help him solve the mystery of a woman who went missing forty years ago.  Mikael, aided by Lisbeth, is commissioned by the wealthy family of the young girl who went missing to help investigate, but the more information they uncover the more they realize how much corruption exists within the entire family.  Additionally, Lisbeth Salander is an intriguing character herself with a suspicious background, a punk attitude with piercings, tattoos, and gothic style, and an amazing talent of computer hacking.  All of these elements combine to make the movie deeply suspenseful and wildly thrilling.  You can’t miss a beat in order to make the well-developed mystery play out.
I found the movie as a whole to be quite graphic, but at the same time I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen, even in the lengthy two and a half hour movie.  The provocativeness definitely makes it feel more distinctly European influenced.  I think in many ways the film stretched the limits with its explicit scenes, both sexually and violently.  I even wondered if a rating of R was high enough.   That being said, I would highly recommend it and watch it again.  In many ways the film does what Hollywood does best- pushes the envelope and encompasses what is trendy now.  Combine that with the spectacular acting and special effects and you have a film impeccably orchestrated and leaving the audience wanting more.