The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (US) 2011
Comparisons with the original Swedish version
1. Length is 22 minutes shorter than the Millenium edition.
2. The image quality is cleaner (a lot less grains), has more colors, has more wide shots. Sweden didnt look as cold, gray and wet as it was portrayed in the original version.
3. The soundtrack is funkier (both have DTS-HDMA5.1). The beginning credit sequence was pretty cool I thought.
4. Most of the main actors look better especially Lisbeth and Mikael, except perhaps for the Millenium boss. The Swedish actress looked hotter IMO. The Hollywood actors likewise appear more hygienic (hehehe) - you could almost smell the stink of the Swedish actors (with their oily unwashed hair) who seemed to have not showered for days within the story. The crooks look badder in the Hollywood version - and the main crook is a familiar bad guy.
5. Screenplay is more "Hollywood" - easier to understand, lots of clues with regard to the mystery embedded within the dialogue, more streamlined story-telling. There were some differences in the story here and there but I dont know which version is closer to the book because I haven't read the novel.
6. Since the dialogue is in native English, the English was more "proper" - more matured, more eloquent. We can't do anything about this because we don't understand Swedish and the English subs and English dubs were rather simplified - similar to that of Let The Right One In.
7. The Swedish Lisbeth is more edgy, ugly, rough and dark. The Hollywood Lisbeth is rather cute if you look closely - and has got nicer body and creamier complexion. hehehe.
In any case, the Hollywood adaptation is quite good - very much worth 158 minutes of watching.
I tried to watch the Special Features (Commentary by David Fincher) but that meant going through the entire 158 minutes of movie all over again, so I'd just do that a little at a time because the director's comments are pretty interesting (thus far).
