| Author | Message | ||
     Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
I know Craig (for one) hated this film, but we've just watched it and enjoyed it very much. I actually like these films a lot. They have a nice brooding, gothic atmosphere, are utterly un-Hollywood, and contain some wonderfully daft giallo trappings. Hollywood will fuck them up big-time. I think I might have to read the books. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 99.126.164.88 |
You enjoyed it, Zed?! Me no get it.... I do want to see the third one, to see just how bad it becomes - or, if it pulls itself from the abyss. Seriously - where to begin? Okay: an extended fight sequence involving TWO MINOR CHARACTERS?! If I wrote this into a script, I'd be laughed out of... well, let's assume they let me into Hollywood in the first place - THEN, I'd be laughed out of Hollywood! And our two main characters never once meeting up during the film?! With the tattoo chick sitting around looking all sullen and smoking cigarettes and being nearly dead-passive through the entire film?! Yikes. I can't imagine reading these books, after seeing this second film. The first one was flawed, but at least it was pretty good - well, it was okay. The relationship between the two main characters was wholly what carried it. Other'n that... not much to recommend either one, frankly.... | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
Craig, I like them because they aren't Hollywood - they don't follow those rigid guidelines (or templates, if you prefer). For instance, an extended fight scene between two minor characters is, for me, brilliant because it's totally unexpected. Ans the two main characters meeting up only at the end was a very interesting risk. I'm bored with the Hollywood trajectory, where I can write the film in my head as I'm watching it, predicting each and every move. I had no idea where this was going, and so thoroughly enjoyed it. | ||
| Kate (Kathleen) Username: Kathleen Registered: 09-2009 Posted From: 86.131.51.196 |
I absolutely loved the books, which I devoured one after the other. They're a proper guilty pleasure, as the prose, even in translation, isn't that great. There's a famously daft bit in The Girl Who Played With Fire where Lisbeth goes shopping at IKEA and we get paragraph after paragraph of every single item of furniture she buys and what it all costs.  I think Mr Larsson was a teeny bit obsessive, but by the end I was finding it rather endearing. But they're highly enjoyable page-turners with some great characters and pure escapist thrills. I understand why people love them and I also understand why people hate them. Zed, I think you'd enjoy the books - especially the first one. I've only seen the first film, which I thought was excellent. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.162.189 |
I'm reminded of Dennis Etchison's comment years ago that the way Hollywood works is that if any film doesn't immediately remind them of something that was recently successful, they say it 'doesn't work'. | ||
| Kate (Kathleen) Username: Kathleen Registered: 09-2009 Posted From: 86.131.51.196 |
There was an anecdote in Video Watchdog: Someone pitching a film was told "Great idea! If only someone had already made it so we could do the remake!" | ||
| John Forth (John) Username: John Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 217.20.16.180 |
Never read the books, but I enjoyed the first film a great deal. The two main characters played off one another well, the central mystery was compelling, and the setting suitably moody and atmospheric. The second film I didn't enjoy so much simply because I felt the focus shifted too much on to the characters and away from the story which, as a mystery, wasn't all that interesting. No problem with the main characters splitting up, though. That's pretty standard middle-of-trilogy fare from the Lord of the Rings through to Star Wars. I did think that the Man Who Can Feel No Pain was a bit James Bond for proceedings, mind. The last film, alas, bored me to tears which is a shame, as I was quite invested in the characters and was genuinely interested to see what happened to them. | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.171.129.72 |
I've the book somewhere but haven't found the strength to plough through it. What little I glanced at, yeah, the writing sucks. Couldn't figure if it was the translation or not. All the same, one for the Da Vinci Code readers, I thought. Which is fair enough. |