Adapting a much read and loved book to film is tricky. While you have a ready made audience waiting to buy tickets, you also have to deal with everyone’s expectations for their beloved book. The Millennium Trilogy, a Swedish crime/thriller series has been adapted into three Swedish films, shot concurrently. There is no real mystery to the film interest in Stieg Larsson’s books. They have been on the bestseller lists since 2008, and with their gritty criminal investigations and intriguing central characters, they have occupied the bedside tables of many of us.
This film adaptation is very close to the original, only pulling back fractionally on the book’s violence. The central storyline that follows an investigation into a 40 year mystery, the murder of 16 yr old Harriet Vanger (Julia Sporre) on the remote Hedeby Island, is maintained with all of the plot intricacies. For those unfamiliar with the book, the film might lack the bang for your buck you expect from big screen crime film. For those inducted into Larsson’s Sweden there will be mixed responses as to whether any of the flavour of the piece has been lost in the transfer from page to screen.
Where this first film is most impressive is in establishing the two main characters, Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) and Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist, As it is in Heaven). Rapace fully realises this unique literary character pulling off both the physical resemblance and the character’s personality traits. Rapace’s commitment to the role went beyond getting her motorbike licence, she also had all the facial piercing done for real. Nyqvist is also brilliant as Blomkvist, the fearless investigative journalist, bringing the character’s trademark charisma and likeability to the screen.
Read my full review at Trespass
