Excellent movie.  Not at all what I expected from one of the first trailer's for the film, which I find exquisite as well because it was able to intrigue me without the use of dialogue.  The movie itself, even better - with dialogue!

 

loading...

SPOILERS CONTAINED HEREIN - DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO SEE THIS EXTRAORDINARY FILM

I have not read these books, and to those that have not read them yet either, I will say this - do not go into this movie thinking you know what it's about because you don't.  Initially, I suspected this to be some sort of time-travel murder mystery with a futuristic heroine who is trying to get to a point in her past (since the GWTDT and the character at the center of the 1940's world have extraordinarily similar facial features) in order to prevent her own murder/kidnapping/some-other-really-bad-thing from happening - and James Bond as a sidekick.

What you actually DO get with this film is a completely logical, and enthralling, yet disturbingly twisted multi-murder mystery spanning several decades.  Lisbeth Salander (GWTDT) and normal James Bond-guy team up to crack a 60+ year-old case of the disappearing niece who's uncle is convinced she was killed, but without ever finding a body.  The fun thing?  GWTDT isn't even really the focus of the movie at all.  In fact, she's the one that comes on as the sidekick and (at least in the movie version) we get as little back-story on her character as you can possibly get away with on a film that's named after her!!  It's pretty crazy when you think about it, yet somehow strangely fits with the mystery of the girl and the movie itself.

Moving on, the story focuses on disgraced journalist Mikhail something-Russian-sounding (Daniel Craig/James Bond) as he is hired by a rich, elusive Swede to put together his memoir.  The real reason James Bond has been hired is to do research into what exactly happened to old, rich Swede's niece who disappeared from an impenetrable island in Sweden a lifetime ago.  The entire rich Swede family still lives on the same island, but all are in their own houses within yelling distance of each other.  Interesetingly, no one speaks to each other, however, because they all hate each other.  In any case, James Bond begins speaking to the relatives and people who were there on the day young, blonde 1940's Swede mysteriously disappeared - the typical investigation stuff.  Eventually, James Bond hits a wall with his research and looks into hiring an assistant.  This is where GWTDT comes in.  James Bond discovers GWTDT actually researced him at the request of old, rich Swede to make sure he was fit to investigate the mystery.  When James Bond sees her report on him and is astonished to see she had discovered things only he and his mother knew about, he decides to take her on to help in his own investigation.

At this point, we've already seen GWTDT randomly and with some vague references to a troubled past, but we get nothing of substance from or about her until she meets up with James Bond.  Not saying the material with her is insignificant or boring, in fact it's quite the opposite.  However, it still reflects as more of a B-storyline than anything else.  Not to mention the events that take place before she meets James Bond are highly disturbing on a sexual violence scale, and so, I'll choose to avoid getting into those scenes since it's a tad inappropriate to write about before anyone has the chance to see what I mean.  Translation - do NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! bring children to see this movie under any circumstances ever.

Cut to GWTDT and James Bond guy getting knee-deep in terribly interesting cold cases from the 1940's-mid 60's that involve gruesome murders and Bible quotes.  Did I also mention the Nazis?  Oh yes, it seems rich, old Swede's family has two bonafide Anti-Semites in tow (note: rich, old Swede is not one of the Nazis).  Anyway, James Bond discovers four possible murders that young, blonde 1940's Swede potentially knew about before she disappeared.  GWTDT confirms the murders happened after extensive research and discovers numerous others in the process.

You can pretty much guess how the rest of it goes from here, but I hesitate going into it any further for fear of giving too much away or what happens to James Bond and GWTDT.  This really is something you should see in the movies, or read in the books depending on your preference.  What I will tell you is that you won't walk away dissatisfied with this one.

I reiterate that this is NOT A KID FRIENDLY MOVIE or one that sports that casual violence and horror we're all used to.  This one is on a whole new scale with disturbing quotients skyrocketing.  Why you ask?  Because this isn't some neighbor with a chainsaw or possessed puppet scheming to stab you in your dreams - what happens to GWTDT unfortunately actually happens in the real world and it's too sensitive and upsetting a topic to make light of or disrespect in any way, so I'll leave it at that.  What she goes through is truly horrific, so be cautious when heading to see this film (which despite what I've just said I still think you should see because it's still a pretty damn good flick).

Also, anyone that has an affinity towards cats **raises hand** you should probably avoid this one too  :-(

Check out the trailer I've posted below, then go see the movie in its entirety.  We can all anxiously await the sequels together.

(And just because you know there are sequels doesn't mean you know what happens to GWTDT because you DON'T.  So there.  I win.)

More From Q 105.7