Sunday, January 1, 2012

New Year's Eve Spent: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

     I read all of the books and saw the subtitled movies.  There are few times I get excited when a book is on the big screen.  I was excited about going to a theater to see The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.  


The book had been out for a little while before I read it.  I probably wouldn't have picked it up on my own.  While on vacation one year I borrowed the book.  We were renting a condo, so when it came time to pack up, and I still had more chapters to go, I left the book there in hopes of borrowing it from our local library. I was on a waiting list for several days.   


The next day the library called to say I was bumped up to number 21.  21! Seriously!  Not waiting any longer I made the trip to Walmart, which in and of itself would constitute enough info for a novel, and picked up my own copy of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.  I read all day and most of the night.  It was soooo good that I went out and bought the sequel,  reading that one with rapid anticipation of the next. 


By this time, my husband was a Girl With the Dragon Tattoo enthusiast.  Like others I know, his hunger for more was fed from my retelling what I read.  That's also the only way I could get a book discussion going. Unfortunately he doesn't read for pleasure.  I would have shared the story with my son also,  to broaden the discussion, but there are parts of that book that are just not appropriate.  I know, I know.  My husband says the same thing.  "Dear God Pam!  The kid is 14."  I know.  I'm the meanest mom on the block.  If you don't believe ask my son and/or daughter or read my previous blogs.


 Finally, I realized the subtitled movie was out.  Off to Blockbuster I went. It was really good.  Reaallly good.  It was easy to follow and it pretty much kept pace with the book.  Liz, the main character, was at first  portrayed as  a victim.  Later you found she could take care of herself.  She was very smart, strong, didn't really care what others thought, was detail oriented when it came to the work she did, and persistent. She did however use some of her talents in questionable ways. 


This past Saturday my husband and I couldn't wait to see the movie on the big screen and not in subtitles.  The beginning of this movie was hard to watch.  You would see clips of a rose, then faces and bodies, cables and possibly computers dipped in hot black wax as if they were trying to cast a mold.  The objects appeared to be lifted up dripping with whatever black liquid they were dipped in.  Heavy metal rock played in the background. It was a loud and in your face.  I didn't understand why they did what they did unless it was to scare us into believing this movie would be a punker's paradise. It was like what an advertisement would be like for Hot Topic.  


 The Liz in the latest movie release seemed to be totally alien.  I didn't really care for how she was portrayed. Too over the edge for her to be so "normal." Liz looked angry 99% of the time. I understand the reason why she should be angry but there needs to be something that is relatable.  I just didn't feel it. If you haven't seen it yet, I would rent the subtitled version instead.  It's way better!!  The best things about renting are it's less expensive, you are in the comfort of your own home and you can pause it for bathroom/snack breaks.  Also you don't have people sitting next to you that are not following the rules.  Well, most of the time anyway.  If someone does get out of hand you can always pause the movie.    :0)



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