The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Man som hatar kvinnor) (2009)

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General		Extras
Category	Thriller	Menu Animation & Audio Theatrical Trailer-4
Rating
Year Of Production	2009
Running Time	146:30 (Case: 152)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (71:38)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Niels Arden Oplev
Studio Distributor	Vendette Films Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Michael Nyqvist Noomi Rapace Lena Endre Peter Haber Sven-Bertil Taube Peter Andersson Ingvar Hirdwall Marika Lagercrantz Björn Granath Ewa Fröling Michalis Koutsogiannakis Annika Hallin
Case	?
RPI	$39.95	Music	Jacob Groth

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	Swedish Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Swedish dts 5.1 (768Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English (Burned In)	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     These days virtually any successful book is quickly made into a movie or TV show; sometimes the rights are sold even before the books hit the shelves. One of the biggest literary phenomena of the last few years has been The Millennium Trilogy, Swedish mystery/thriller novels by Steig Larsson who tragically died after completing the books but before they were published. He was completely unknown outside of Sweden before his death and is now a name known around the world. There have been the inevitable squabbles over his estate and now with the release of these Swedish language movies and the upcoming and seemingly inevitable US remake this can only get worse. Regardless, the original source materials are great reads and this first film in the Swedish series is an excellent thriller which keeps you gripped for it’s nearly two and a half hour running time. The film is very true to the novel and even if you have read the novel (as I have) the film is still an enthralling watch.

     Interestingly, this movie (and its sequels) were originally planned and shot as a mini-series for Swedish television but with the international success of the novels it was re-cut (and shortened) to make three theatrical releases. The other two are hitting cinemas in Australia before the end of the year. The full television version, which adds about half an hour per movie, is currently available on DVD in the Netherlands, however, it is not English friendly as the subtitles are only in Dutch. It may get released more widely after the movies run their course, both theatrically and on DVD.

     The story involves a disgraced investigative journalist, Michel Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), who has been convicted of the libel of an important industrialist. In order to avoid the case badly impacting on his magazine, Millennium, he decides to resign. He is also required to spend three months in jail at some point in the future. He is then contacted by a lawyer, Dirch Frode, who is acting on behalf of retired industrialist, Henrik Vanger (Sven-Bertil Taube), formerly head of a giant Swedish business and now retired to an island in Sweden. Vanger wants Blomkvist to investigate the disappearance, 40 years earlier, of Harriet Vanger, Henrik's niece. He reluctantly agrees when it is revealed that the girl was once his nanny when he was very young and Vanger offers him an extraordinary amount of money. Henrik believes that the girl was murdered by a member of his extended family, all of whom were stuck on the island the day he girl disappeared. Frode had Blomkvist investigated before hiring him for the job by a private security film. The investigator, Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) is the girl of the title. She is anti-social, difficult and aggressive but is a very talented hacker. She becomes interested in Blomkvist's investigation and decides to help him get to the bottom of the mystery.

     This is a very gritty and tense film which is well acted, written and directed. Obviously, it is driven by very good source material as well. The two leads, Rapace and Nyqvist are perfect for their parts, very similar to what I imagined while reading the books. I suppose it is a fair warning if you have not read the books that this story and film feature themes and scenes of sexualised violence, so it may not be for everyone. Personally, I thought this was an excellent thriller and am looking forward to the next two films. Recommended.

Video

     The video quality is very good, although not without issue.

     The feature is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio. It is 16x9 enhanced widescreen. The picture was clear and sharp throughout. Shadow detail is quite good but this film has quite a dark colour palette and naturalistic lighting so you cannot expect too much in this department. The colour was very good with no colour artefacts. The washed out colour of Swedish winter is well presented on this transfer. There was some minor aliasing (despite upscaling to 1080p) such as at 5:58 on some blinds and 29:56 on a fence.

     There are burned-in subtitles in English which were clear and easy to read.

     There is a layer change at 71:38 which was not noticeable during playback.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is very good.

     This DVDs contain two audio options, a Swedish Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack encoded at 448 Kb/s and a Swedish DTS 5.1 soundtrack (both are coded as English on the disc).Both options are very good but as usual the DTS has a slight edge in depth and surround activity. Dialogue seemed clear and easy to understand but my knowledge of Swedish is nothing special.

     The score by Danish composer, Jacob Groth, is one of the strengths of the film, drawing you into the story and keeping you interested. The music fills the sound field on this transfer.

     The surround speakers were used mostly for music and some ambient noise like trains, cars and motorbikes. The subwoofer was used for music support and adding bass to other effects.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    Very little here, trailers only.

Menu

    The menu was quite good including music and animation.

UK Trailer (1:34)

Swedish Trailer (1:38)

    Better than the first one with subs.

The Girl who Played with Fire Trailer (1:15)

    American voiceover.

The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest Trailer (1:49)

    American voiceover.

    The Region 1 version seems to include some better extras including an interview with Naomi Rapace and a Vanger Family Tree along with an English dub option. It does not seem to include the DTS option though. Also available on Blu-ray both here and in Region A. As I mentioned above there is also a 'extended version' available from the Netherlands on DVD however it is not English friendly.

    The video quality is very good. The audio quality is very good. The extras are only trailers.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall