From the book to the screen: Millennium trilogy.

Read the trilogy: done.
Watch the trilogy: done.
Review: on it.

Stieg Larsson [RIP] gave us one of the catchiest, most addictive book trilogies ever: Millennium.
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, “The Girl who Played with Fire” and “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” introduced us to Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist, and gave us some of the best crime novels in the last years.

The ones in charge of the film adaptations were Niels Arden Oplev and Daniel Alfredson, starring Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist.

Let’s begin.

“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” [“Män som hatar kvinnor”].
Director: Niels Arden Oplev [Swedish version], David Fincher [American version].
Swedish: ♣♣♣♣½  | ♥♥♥♥  / American: ♣♣♣♣½  | ♥♥♥♥½

First off, the Swedish version.
One of the best book adaptations I’ve ever watched. Honestly.
The important details of the book were included in the movie, which makes it easy to follow.
The cast fills the descriptions of the book… well, most of them [we’ll get to that in a bit], but all in all the acting is great.
The ending of the book should have been included in this version because it helps understand the relationship between Blomkvist and Lisbeth for the next 2 films.

And now the American version.
I enjoyed it a lot, and as well as the Swedish one, is one of the best adaptations I’ve watched.
This version has details that the other one doesn’t have and viceversa [example [SPOILER ALERT]: the Swedish version respected Harriet’s location and the American one didn’t. However, the American version has the same ending as the book].
Daniel Craig was an excellent Mikael Blomkvist and Rooney Mara was outstanding as Lisbeth Salander.

Now, here comes the honest part:
I enjoyed both. They are very well made; the photography is excellent as well as the script and the actors… most of them. Here’s what still bothers me: Noomi Rapace is a good actress, there’s no doubt about that, but I didn’t enjoy her Lisbeth Salander as much as I enjoyed Rooney Mara’s.
Rooney fitted the book description better and even the look they created for her was more like the book’s, while Noomi had few things that were like Lisbeth.
Also, I found Rooney’s interpretation much accurate then Noomi’s. She got that psychotic yet ‘humane’ side better than Noomi, who I felt just kept the same expression and tried to look psychotic.

No complaints about Daniel and Michael, I loved both.

“The Girl Who Played with Fire”. [“Flickan som lekte med elden”].
Director: Daniel Alfredson.
♣♣♣♣ / ♥♥♥

This is the book I found most intense out of the 3, and the movie was good [not as good as the previous one, though].
I understand the book is long and full of details, but there were some that could have been included for a better understanding of everything [example: the whole Björk’s report thing].
Still, it’s understandable, easy to follow and the plot twists will catch your attention.

And as obsessive as I am, it bothered me a bit that they didn’t respect such small details [SPOILER ALERT: it was supposed to be nighttime when Lisbeth finds her father, not daytime]. But that’s just me.

“The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” [“Luften slotted som sprängdes”].
Director: Daniel Alfredson.
♣♣♣½ | ♥♥♥

And the book they should have adapted better was the worst adapted.
Everything is good expect the adaptation.
If you haven’t read the book you’ll be fine, but if you have, you might share some of these feelings with me.

There were details necessary to the story that weren’t included, others that were changed [SPOILER ALERT: Niedermann trying to kill Lisbeth outside her window at the hospital? C’mon! Was that necessary? He was supposed to be hiding!] and others that should have been out of the movie [SPOILER ALERT: the whole e-mail threats that Erika got were unnecessary, and they didn’t even give closure to that part]. Also, some characters are interesting and highly relevant in the story, and didn’t get the same importance in the movie [Figuerola, hello!].

Thankfully, the whole point of the movie was there, with good acting, good photography, and all in all is a good ending to this trilogy.

I highly recommend the books.
The movies are up to you 😉