The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - American Version

[Alex2507]

US audiences are really seriously jingoistic and that's their loss.

This had me thinking ... thinking that I didn't know what that meant!
Is that even American?

Europeans are neighbored by multi lingual nations and within their own countries they have a large variety of spoken languages being used. In the majority of America, English is it and one would have to travel far and wide to find anything but English in common use (FL, CA and NH being exceptions). The cool reception to foreign language films I think is the result of common experience making it difficult to adopt a foreign reality. How is a Texan suppose to develop language skills? By visiting Louisiana? It works a lot better for a German visiting France ... and then maybe occupying it.

[sawzalot]

I did not see the new version but that is mostly due to my jingoistic behavior . I dont really know when this happened but I am truly working on a remedy.I think I will appreciate the end result.

*I did travel for one month out of every year for ten straight years to 14 different eastern european countries learning the quick book phrases for each area (mostly Russian). Maybe I am on the road to recovery.I found it very funny that 80% of the countries I did visit were always showing some newly released movie at the most elaborate state of the art cinema and they all were played in english language with subtitles in relation to the country I would be in at that time, I thought it was very cool , for me at least.

[Rickster71]

I don't think Americans are too ignorant to deal with a foreign film with subtitles.
I find that subtitles get washed out, (sometimes) depending on the background color.
My bigger problem with both movies was my disappointment with film makers beating the same dead horse.
'The powers that be' in Hollywood are still making movies with the Nazi's as the boogie man? Seriously?... in the 21st century?

[j_garcia]

I don't think Americans are too ignorant to deal with a foreign film with subtitles.

It isn't ignorance, it is laziness Subs don't bother me at all. I prefer to hear the real actors voices, though once in a while you do miss stuff and in a theater that can be an issue because you can't rewind it.

Redboxed it for tonight. Will see how it goes.

[j_garcia]

So, watched about half of it last night. Not too bad. I pretty much agree with the reviews and comments though, well done, but pretty much the same movie and the original did many things better. Will finish it tonight.

[MidnightSensi2]

My opinion:

AMERICAN:
-Fincher didn't do as good as I thought he would, but maybe my expectations were too high.
-Even though being a rail thin fashion model, Roone Mara, didn't have the sort of boy-like/asexual look described in the book as much as the Swedish.
-The bit mentioned before that was at the end of the American and not in the Swedish was a little out of character for Lisbeth based on the book, no? Fincher has been known for doing this, actually Brad Pitt in the Flight Club extras said he didn't like the like "it was a sport-****" because it sounded frat-boy and out of place of the character, which I agree with.
-Ross and Renzors score was awesome....awesome....awesome. It blended so well yet added so much.
-The wardrobe was cool, but, I found some of it a little to 'fashiony' for the character. Like, the perfectly fitting black clothing, the multilayering, the complex wardrobes, hair and makeup work, just seemed a bit much for her. It was supposed to be edgy and they accomplished that, but, I couldn't picture the character in the book putting that eyeliner on each day

SWEDISH:
-I also liked the novelty of the subtitles and listening to it in the Swedish language, it just sounded right
-The second and third installments, however, had pretty poor production quality.
-I actually liked this Lisbeth better.

I don't think the American version is bad business, I just prefer seeing an original to an obvious imitation (even used some of the same location shots). I don't think the Fincher version was bad, so much as just not better.

Yeah, I was actually expecting a bit more out of Fincher. I think he did a good job, but I just thought this was so up his alley that he would be perfect for it and make a huge improvement on the adaptation.

You almost need to see the original to be able to keep up with the pace of the remake and I'm glad I saw them both. I appreciated the differences and liked the remake better as a film but liked certain parts of the original better.

The opening scene alone was worth the rental, very cool.

Yeah, I really liked that opening. I still think if you watched the Swedish one and are looking for a rental it's worth a look. But, I'd still say start with the Swedish.

Europeans are neighbored by multi lingual nations and within their own countries they have a large variety of spoken languages being used. In the majority of America, English is it and one would have to travel far and wide to find anything but English in common use (FL, CA and NH being exceptions). The cool reception to foreign language films I think is the result of common experience making it difficult to adopt a foreign reality. How is a Texan suppose to develop language skills? By visiting Louisiana? It works a lot better for a German visiting France ... and then maybe occupying it.

This is very true from a language standpoint, also a cultural.

I don't think Americans are too ignorant to deal with a foreign film with subtitles.
I find that subtitles get washed out, (sometimes) depending on the background color.
My bigger problem with both movies was my disappointment with film makers beating the same dead horse.
'The powers that be' in Hollywood are still making movies with the Nazi's as the boogie man? Seriously?... in the 21st century?

Well, it was in the book, and there are still powerful families that aren't 'active' Nazi's per say, but believed in the 'cause...' mainly because it was passed down from generation to generation. In ultra-wealthy 'old-money' families this is more true, because ultra-wealthy tend to be secluded on some level.

[j_garcia]

I did find the opening on the US one very cool also.

The girl did a good Lisbeth in the US version, but Noomi Rapace just fit the role a bit better overall. The US version felt a bit more detached where Noomi was able to show appropriate, believable emotion at the right times.

The tattoo was much more badass in the Swedish version, wrapping from her leg all the way to her shoulder

[jonnythan]

My opinion:

AMERICAN:
-Fincher didn't do as good as I thought he would, but maybe my expectations were too high.
-Even though being a rail thin fashion model, Roone Mara, didn't have the sort of boy-like/asexual look described in the book as much as the Swedish.
-The bit mentioned before that was at the end of the American and not in the Swedish was a little out of character for Lisbeth based on the book, no? Fincher has been known for doing this, actually Brad Pitt in the Flight Club extras said he didn't like the like "it was a sport-****" because it sounded frat-boy and out of place of the character, which I agree with.

You mean the part with the jacket and getting angry when she sees Mikael with Erika? That did happen in the book, pretty much exactly in that fashion.

[Alex2507]

 You mean the part with the jacket and getting angry when she sees Mikael with Erika? That did happen in the book, pretty much exactly in that fashion.  

Interesting but spoiler tags would be good. I watched to see that part and my g/f commented on it. I think it was a good inclusion/addition to the Swedish version.

Another noteworthy difference was that the Swedish version had a more violent and prolonged 'retaliation' for the   unexpected back door delivery.   Even though he didn't mention it I know j_garcia missed that part.

[skizzerflake]

This had me thinking ... thinking that I didn't know what that meant!
Is that even American?

Europeans are neighbored by multi lingual nations and within their own countries they have a large variety of spoken languages being used. In the majority of America, English is it and one would have to travel far and wide to find anything but English in common use (FL, CA and NH being exceptions). The cool reception to foreign language films I think is the result of common experience making it difficult to adopt a foreign reality. How is a Texan suppose to develop language skills? By visiting Louisiana? It works a lot better for a German visiting France ... and then maybe occupying it.

Having grown up in an American family with 3 languages (English, German and Swedish), I understand Americans, but I think they are the biggest loser in their narrow-mindedness. I have honestly, run into people who told me that if English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for them. Having seen a lot of foreign movies in my time, seeing only movies that were made in English is like eating nothing but beef and potatoes....OK for a while but it gets boring. Narrow minded Americans are not exactly evil about this, but they just miss out on a lot that they might enjoy.....too bad for them.