Just curious, is there any particular reason you don't like the original film?

Jerry, let me say I am a fan of 'foreign' films, so no prejudice there. Moreover I'm a big fan of mysteries, especially murder mysteries, and have especially fond memories of some BBC series including Sherlock Holmes and Inspector Morse. Having not read the Larsson books, I came into the movie cold but with a certain hype factor on the part of my wife and oldest son, who both loved the books. Maybe that didn't help as my expectations were elevated. The two things I remember most that were off-putting: (1) The movie felt slow. (2) It felt episodic. Now whenever anyone says "episodic," what I take that to mean is, at least in part, they weren't completely swept up into the life-experience and world of the characters, and I guess that is what was going on for me. I mean I liked the characters, I liked the mystery, but that 'like' was at a conceptual level, and I just never hooked into the flow and feel of the story, which is why it felt slow and episodic to me. Of course, that's just me. I know lots of people who absolutely loved the movie, many of whom are cringing at what Fincher will do. Conversely I'm excited to see the Zaillian-Fincher version. It will be fun to see the two movies compared in the press.

I agree that the original felt episodic. It could have something to do with the fact that it was originally intended as a mini-series for Swedish television. I remember thinking as I was watching it that you could sorta tell where the commercial bumpers were. The three movies got progressively worse. I liked the first one - outstanding plotting and I found it very intriguing. The second was okay but the third was just not good at all. The two later films had a different director, maybe that had something to do with it. I'll see anything that Fincher directs, but I must say I have strong reservations against the fact that they decided to shoot in Sweden with American and British actors. Hearing Daniel Craig in the trailer say "I'm Mikael Blomkvist." with an atrocious pronunciation makes me cringe. Why not move the whole plot to the U.S. or the U.K. instead? I guess then they would have had to change the names of the characters, and 60 million fans of the books would object. It seems a bit like they want to have the cake and eat it too. Let's hope it's awesome cake.

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Thanks for the reply, Scott. Yes I will agree that the movie, especially the first one, moved slow. It didn't bother me at the time, probably because I was watching it on my laptop and had the internet open and doing other things. They were fairly good adaptations of the books, naturally its hard to put everything into a movie. I'd say both the books and the movies are ok. Not great, not bad. I haven't seen anything else from Sweden so if anyone knows, do they tend to have a slower pace in their movies?

Yes, but believe it or not, I thought the first film moved along at a quicker pace than other Swedish films and felt more international in tone. The second and third, not so much.

I agree with you guys about pace and deteriorating quality! I absolutely loved the books and did enjoy the first film but if I'm honest, it's probably because the books were so amazing and I wanted to see how they'd make it work on screen. It felt very Scandanavian which I enjoyed as well as the fact that I really liked the casting. My husband hadn't ever read the books and I think he felt quite lost. I am a David Fincher fan but like Teddy, I'm not looking forward to bungled accents (despite Mr Craig being lovely eye candy!). Fingers crossed its not like the remake of La Femme Nikita (the Bridget Fonda one...shudder) and a new breed of remakes where they both have their positives!

[...] A forgatás idején kemény fagy nehezítette a stáb dolgát Svédországban, Fincheréknek az elmúlt 20 év legkegyetlenebb telét sikerült kifogniuk. Arról már nem is beszélve, hogy az ABBA egyik tagja is keresztbe tett a stábnak. A rendez? nem volt elégedett néhány, sötét dokkban forgatott jelenettel, ezért úgy döntött, megismétlik a felvételt. Amikor visszatértek a helyszínre, kiderült, hogy nem forgathatnak, a területet ugyanis id?közben eladták, és az új tulajdonos, az ABBA egyik énekese nem engedélyezte a munkát. Fincher ezért kénytelen volt felépíteni a saját dokkját – írta a Wired. [...]