Matthew's Journal

I've been enjoying the books by Stieg Larsson recently, so decided to see the film of the first book (titled in the Swedish Män som hatar kvinnor – "Men Who Hate Women", but titled the same as the film in the English translation) a couple of days ago. It would be hard to make a bad film of the book, which is a real page-turner with some fascinating characters and a twisty plot, but I was worried that the hero's character would be too Hollywoodized. Indeed the title sequence's Bond-movie aesthetic and the casting of Daniel Craig had me pretty worried to begin with. As it happens, though, I think the film is a pretty good telling of the first book's tale, and Lisbeth's character seemed reasonably intact. Having read the book, it's difficult for me to be sure, but I think someone who hadn't would be able to follow the plot reasonably well, although sometimes the various Vanger relative do get a bit confusing!

Like the original, there is a fair amount of violence in this film, some of it sexual.