Lisbeth Salander and Sexy Tattoos

[The Newswire]

Readers were first introduced to Lisbeth Sander in 2004. She was the main character in a trilogy of books known as the Millenium series, written by Swedish author, Stieg Larsson. Lisbath is the female protagonist of the series, where she is widely known for her unusual appearance. Lisbeth is very thin, with short, black hair, a pierced nose and eyebrows. She has a goth appearance, sports several tattoos, and is known to be bisexual. Her cool demeanor and tough, attractive appearance became...

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[aXa]

i am going to go see thhese movies solely because of Lisbeth Sander. her look is that of "my type of woman." i absolutely adore that sort of look. and if she turns out to be a real "strong female lead," it will only add to her appeal.

[nathanmbailey]

I'm still not at all happy with there being an American adaptation. The Swedish films were great and Hollywood has a history of ruining foreign films with remakes. To further worsen things, I actually have friends that think this is still a foreign film because it has Daniel Craig playing the lead role.

[Sierras]

I'm still not at all happy with there being an American adaptation. The Swedish films were great and Hollywood has a history of ruining foreign films with remakes. To further worsen things, I actually have friends that think this is still a foreign film because it has Daniel Craig playing the lead role.

I agree. We discussed this in another thread I think. I'll give the movie a chance though and see it.

[aXa]

i want to see both versions, in a short enough time span to compare them. i am just not sure which one i should see first.

[mystoo]

Have you read the books? They leave a lot out of the movies. I really want to see the American version just to see....

[Mr Karl]

I saw it...it was actually quite alright

[Sierras]

Have you read the books? They leave a lot out of the movies. I really want to see the American version just to see....

I borrowed the books from my fiance's mom like 6 months ago...they've been neglected, I haven't even read the first page.
But I do plan on reading them, they've gotten amazing reviews.

[nathanmbailey]

Have you read the books? They leave a lot out of the movies. I really want to see the American version just to see....

Unfortunately, I don't have the free time to do much reading. Plus a little dyslexia and short attention span make it difficult to do as well. I have a hard enough time getting my reading done for school.

I saw it...it was actually quite alright

I'm sure that taken by itself it's an entertaining movie. From the previews though, it looks more like they've turned it into a cookie-cutter Hollywood action film instead of the suspenseful drama mixed with action the originals were. That's where my problem with American remakes comes from, but I'll admit a lot of the remakes are decent to pretty good when ignoring the fact they're remakes.

[Mr Karl]

I was expecting more action....but it was kind of just suspenseful drama, and 2 and a half hours of it.......and it was quite well done....I found some parts sort of disturbing so it must be alrightly done. I'm actually going to read the book...I'm just hoping the book compared to the movie doesn't suck like the fight club book did

[mystoo]

I saw the movie yesterday, it was pretty close to the original actually. I liked it a lot. The books are a little hard to get into, they could definitely be cut down to about 500 pages instead of 800. I felt like giving up often but I have this thing that when I start reading a book I have to finish it. I'd still recommend reading them though.

[BiggTruxx]

OK, have been meaning to post about this for a while... I read GWDT on two long plane rides during the holiday break. It was refreshing, first, because I haven't had time to read a novel for pleasure in three years and had to retrain my brain for the task, and second, because it was actually good.

The main mystery is supported and surrounded by both an interesting financial intrigue as well as the title character's difficult backstory. There are several interesting themes at work here too: power and its abuse, male/female dynamic - yet more complex than the usual Hollywood dreck, genetics vs. choice, family, religion, the role of the State in an individual's life... All of this plays out in a unique setting: Sweden in winter, mostly, which gives it a powerful combination of harshness, discomfort, and romance.

The American film was quite faithful to the novel, and the changes that were made serve only to streamline the story and keep it enjoyable at around 2.5 hours. Daniel Craig is such a great actor and really communicates the character well, as does Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth. Screen veteran Christopher Plummer (known in my house as Captain Von Trapp) is perfect as the aging (and a little slick) industrialist whose niece disappeared 40 years prior. Although Trent Reznor's soundtrack is superb (another award on the way?) and his take on Immigrant Song is sure to end up one of my favorite of his covers (Get Down Make Love is hard to top), I found the music video-style opening credits to be a distraction. Perhaps they are meant as psychological prolepsis to the disturbing events that occur later, but they also could be seen as a bit self-indulgent on director David Fincher's part. ("Wouldn't it be cool if we...?")

Finally, I love that Larsson leaves many questions for the sequel: What will become of Lisbeth's status? Will her actions against her guardian cause any backlash? Will Mikael settle down with a woman or continue to be (as Lisbeth described him) a "practical pig"? What will bring them together in the sequel?

I haven't seen the original films, but I hope to find some time this month. BTW, does anyone know if goth-y stuff is still in fashion in Scandinavia and Central Europe? Everything seems perfect for the time period of the novels (2002 or so), but would a Swedish girl still wear a t-shirt that reads "Fuck You You Fucking Fuck" (quote from Blue Velvet)? I really hope so! Makes me want to visit the old country and learn some more Swedish... Hej då!

[BiggTruxx]

Edit to the above... I meant Rooney Mara as Lisbeth. Noomi Rapace was in the Swedish version. Also, didn't mean to give Daniel Craig more praise than her. She was pretty fucking amazing, actually. A strong performance that captured the intelligence and vulnerability of the character. And she looks quite nice in, um, very little clothing...

[VoltaireBlue]

I saw this last night without seeing the swedish version or reading the books. It was really good, but I could tell that a lot was missing. there were some holes in the story that were obvious. I am looking forward to reading the books.