Stieg Larsson: Millennium Trilogie

I confess that I'm not sure what to think, but I believe this series in six episodes is, in fact, the television adaptation of an "extended version" of the three original films of Millennium trilogy. So, basically what I said in the reviews I made for each of the three films is perfectly suited for the respective episodes in this series. So I will try to be brief now.

The plot is well known and follows Lisbeth Salander, an irreverent young woman with a troubled past, strongly marked by instability and a family uprooting, which the series explains and explores. She is a punk, a hacker, has a prodigious memory and will establish an unusual friendship and collaboration with journalist Mikael Blomkvist, an extremely upright man who will be the victim of persecution, right in the first chapters, for telling uncomfortable truths. The first chapters will address a joint investigation that they will both do on a female killer, while the rest of the series will focus on Salander's family and personal past, and how she will fall victim, too, to an attempt at conspiracy at the highest level.

The series is extremely good, as good were the films that are at its origin. However, it is a very uneven series, which starts wonderfully and decreases in quality and interest. The work of director Daniel Alfredson, who directs the first two films, leaves much to be desired when compared to the careful direction of Niels Arden Oplev, who worked on the first film (corresponding to the first two episodes of this series). However, it is worth keeping track of because the story really is intriguing and mysterious enough to keep us stuck until the end.

The cast is equally good, and there are several characters who appear more or less fleetingly. Personally, I would highlight Noomi Rapace's extraordinary interpretation, which brought Lisbeth Salander to life in a way that I think will never be equaled. She is intelligent, sensitive but also provocative, brutal and aggressive when provoked. At his side, in stark contrast, the quiet journalist played by Michael Nyqvist, in an extremely noble and dignified way. I also really liked the work of Lena Endre, who gave life to Erika, editor of Millennium magazine who has a multi-year affair with Blomkvist, and Georgi Staykov, who brought one of the great villains of the series to life in a genuinely threatening way.

At a technical level, the series is a little uneven. The first episodes are extraordinary and everything comes together to create an atmosphere of tension and mystery that works wonderfully. From cinematography to sets and costumes! But from then on, things don't go so well, and it is only in the end that this environment will be recreated again, and in a rather lame way, with all the material suffering from a very un-cinematic appearance. Overall, the sets and costumes are good, and the choice of filming locations worked perfectly. The action scenes invite good visual effects, which almost always worked well. I really liked the initial credits, with all the excellent drawings and graphics, and the way the soundtrack was being used.

Okay, so I came late to the party, but the Millennium trilogy became this summer's read. I was a little intimidated by three books which are 600 to 700 pages in length each, but after The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo finally picked up the pace and became a "page-turner", the last two books went very quickly. Ultimately, The Girl Who Played With Fire became my favorite of the three.

So next I started watching the films beginning with the American version of TGWTDT. It was really good, but in my reading of the book I envisioned Liam Neeson, not Daniel Craig. Then I watched the first of the Swedish films. I was kinda surprised at how different they were and I preferred some things about the Swedish version, but I thought the American version was a little better overall.

Then I picked up The Girl Who Played With Fire on DVD at my local BlockBuster (like I said, I came a little late to the party). Since TGWPWF was my favorite of the three books, I was crushed when I saw how badly they had chopped up the story and action.

At this point, I started browsing IMDb.com for background info on the film and came across a member's comments about a 6-part Swedish mini-series. Apparently, the original intention was to present the trilogy as six 90-minute episodes on Swedish television, but the money-making potential for a theatrical release became too great. So everything was re-edited into three feature length films.

The kicker is this guy says that TGWPWF lost an hour of its original footage on the cutting room floor. Now I gotta get a look at the mini-series version, but my BlockBuster (yes, we still have one) doesn't carry it. So I ask a friend who isn't as cheap as me, to look it up on her NetFlix account. HOORAY! It's available for streaming! I bring the food and she supplies the wine and we sit through the middle three hours of the Millennium Trilogy (parts 3 & 4).

OUTSTANDING!!!! I mean not quite as good as the book (production values, casting, etc.), but soooo much better than the Swedish theatrical release. I mean absolutely no comparison with the other version.

I'm a glutton for punishment. So the next night I watch TGWKTHN on Blu-ray (Hey…how come it's in 4:3 format? Oh yeah…filmed for TV.) Really good. Liked it lots.

One more night, back over to my NetFlix friend's place with dinner and watched episodes 5 & 6 of the trilogy. I gotta admit that the 3rd book was my toughest read. I thought it bogged down in all the SAPO Swedish Secret Police minutia. Well, turns out so did episode 5 & 6. They were good and the background info was helpful, but the pacing (like the book) made it a slow-go. Without spoiling it the final 45 minutes are excellent, but it's a long way to go to get there.

I'm a little burned out on Millennium right now, so I'm not gonna go back and watch those first two TV episodes 1 & 2 for a while yet. But when I do, it will be interesting to see if they improve upon the original Swedish theatrical release version of TGWTDT.

In summary… 1. I liked both the American and Swedish versions of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, with a small preference for the American version. (I'm a motorcycle guy, so I definitely liked her vintage bike better.) 2. The theatrical release of The Girl Who Played With Fire is crap. Bypass this one for episodes 3 & 4 of the Swedish TV mini-series. 3. I'll give the nod to the theatrical release of The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest, but not by much. If you really liked all the SAPO details from the book, then go for episodes 5 & 6 of the mini-series.

At this point, I can't wait to see how the American versions of the 2nd and 3rd films turn out. These two books are really just one extended story, so I hope they film them simultaneously and bring them out pretty close together.

I decided to go all-out and give myself the full Millennium experience by watching the TV miniseries (9 hours in total) over the space of three nights.

Wow. I loved it. I'm not a huge fan of the crime genre, and I haven't read the books, but MILLENNIUM is a difficult series to fault. It's a mature and mannered piece of film-making, dealing with adult and taboo themes and wrapping the reader up in a realistic and conscious mystery yarn.

Despite the slow pacing, the miniseries is thoroughly engaging. Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace are both excellent leads, bringing to life fully flesh and blood characters who engage the reader's sympathy and emotions throughout. The thriller aspects of the story are exciting and as a whole this is a mature and fully developed piece of work. The original storyline is built upon and expanded in a decent way.

There are slow spots and weaker moments that could have been done better, but overall this is an intelligent, emotionally satisfying mystery yarn. Great direction, great plotting, great acting, great cinematography...what's not to love?

I've seen all three original movies (plus the perfectly fine U.S. adaptation) and read the novels later. If one definition of a "10" rating is something that you know you will watch again (and again), then this six-part series from which three movies were "condensed" is the definitive version to watch and to collect. They expand the story back to its original scope, showing how the first movie is really just the beginning of the mysteries to be unearthed. They ultimately deliver a riveting story of cynical evil loosed by the amoral schemes of people who think they know what is "best."

Some have remarked on the violence, yet that violence is sparse and hardly what I would call "gratuitous." The first movie contains the only example of what might be called "triggering" (unless you have personally experienced bloodshed or war), and yet even that incident is balanced by a cathartic comeuppance.

Adult fans of mystery and intrigue on an international scale should not miss this excellent example.

An improvement over and already brilliant story. The serialized story benefits greatly its development. So masterful and engaging.