The Millennium Series Movies

The first two books of Stieg Larsson's Millennium series, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire are now out on DVD and On Demand. I am sure these films are already being remade with America actors, but I'll stick with the Swedish versions. I am not going to apologize for liking these books. I understand they are not great literature, but they were a lot of fun to read, and somehow I get a little bit of pleasure not seeing them Hollywoodized.

The Swedish films are dark and the casting is excellent. Lisbeth Salander is not a star, she is flat chested and a little scary looking. Mikael Blomkvist is rumpled and looks his age. In fact, almost everyone in these two movies looks like a real person not an actor. The two directors have also stayed very close to the story. Some elements have been simplified, but the storyline is all there.

Before I saw the film, I heard a review that made me laugh, but as I was watching the movie I couldn't believe how much it captured the difference between Hollywood and foreign films. At the end of the second book, Lisabeth Salander is in a fight for her life. Meanwhile Blomkvist has figured out where she is and has to make his way out into the countryside to save her. For the next several minutes, we see Salander getting shot, hitting her father over the head with an axe, and trying to kill her brother as Blomkvist puts on his seat belt, gets caught in traffic and all but stops at a drive-through Starbucks on his way to save her.

If you enjoyed the books, make sure you see the Swedish version of the films before Hollywood gets to them.