dgaraetsI’m not one to hold a grudge.
Well, OK, I am one to hold a grudge. I still haven’t gotten over “Three Men and a Baby,” the English-language remake of the similarly named French film “Three Men and a Cradle.” The remake seemed to have no purpose other than to spare the American movie-going public all that messy stuff with the foreign languages and the funny-looking appliances.
Last weekend I saw the trailer for “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” the English-language remake of the similarly named Swedish film “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” (Though it needs to be said that the Swedish title, “Män som hatar kvinnor,” reportedly translates as “Men Who Hate Women” – nothing there about tattoos or dragons. For some reason that I don’t care enough to find out, the name was changed for both the English title of the novel and the foreign release of the Swedish film.)
The trailer suggests that it’s going to be a rip-roaring, gritty crime drama starring big-name actors familiar to American audiences. It contains at least one instance of Daniel Craig doing his signature thing with a cocktail: He takes a sip without breaking eye contact. When I try that, I spill. But James Bond can do it, and so, apparently, can the Swedish journalist Mikael Blomkvist.
The thing is, the Swedish film is also a rip-roaring, gritty crime drama. The actors all have this habit of speaking Swedish, but why shouldn’t they? It kind of adds to the set-in-Sweden vibe.
Here’s the trailer for the Swedish film:
And here’s the trailer for the remake. Watch for Craig to do the thing with the drink:
