Millénium

A 40-year-old mystery brings together Mikael Blomkwist, editor of investigative journal Millennium, and Lisbeth Salander, super-hacker and researcher. Salander has a dark, troubled past, a past that will come back to haunt her many times. Salander is the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

A mini-series that consists of extended versions of the three movies based on Stieg Larsson novels: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Episodes 1 and 2), The Girl Who Played with Fire (Episodes 3 and 4) and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Episodes 5 and 6). Scenes are added to turn each of three 130-150-minute movies into two episodes of 90 minutes each.

I thought the movies were at best good but not great. They were a bit of slog to get through at times and weren't entirely engaging. Surely making them longer would just make the experience worse?

Strangely, no. In fact, the mini-series is brilliant and significantly better than the movies. The additional material fills in the gaps, provides more information and makes for a more continuous story. Intrigue and tension are ramped-up, plot development is enhanced as is engagement levels. Everything just seems to flow now, unlike the movies which seemed a bit unevenly paced.

An absolute must-watch.

I haven't read the books so can't comment on how faithful this 9 hour version is compared to the 3 theatrical release versions. However, I understand them to be largely faithful. It has been over 10 years since I first watched the Girl films, but the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo remains one of my favourite films ever. The hollywood remake was also perfect, however, for its Swedish origins and a more perfect Lisbeth in Noomi Rapace, the original remains as good as ever. With 30 minutes more footage in it, this first story felt even better, especially the first 90 minutes which is better paced and we see more of Lisbeth and Michael working together and more detail about how they solved the crime. So if you are going to watch the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo then watch the version in this miniseries, it is better than the theatrical release.

Similarly, if you are going to watch the other two movies, then it is better to watch the extended versions available in this series as the pacing is better and explanation of the plot (which can get intricate at times) is clearer. However, in my opinion the 2nd and 3rd stories just don't live up to the quality and entertainment of the 1st one. This is a criticism of the source material probably rather than this adaptation. Everything that I and others love about Dragon Tattoo is the mystery, as well as the fledging relationship between Lisbeth and Michael. The 2nd and 3rd stories have much less mystery and virtually no character development between Lisbeth and Michael as they have very little time spent together. Nevertheless, as a fan of the first story and therefore the characters, it is interesting to see more unfold about Lisbeth's back story and how her friends work together to protect her from evil forces.

Dragon Tattoo: 10/10 Played with fire: 8/10 Hornets nest: 7/10.

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?

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

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.