Dragon Tattoo Trilogy Extended Edition

The Dragon Tattoo Trilogy" contains all three films: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest, in their non-theatrical unrated extended versions, one Blu-ray Disc™ for each movie and a Bonus Disc. The previous Blu-ray™ Disc Dragon Tattoo Trilogy set was reviewed in Issue 155.

Disc four of this four-disc set is a bonus disc that includes the following special features: the documentaries Nidermann Vs. Roberto (SD 09:43), Interview With Cast And Crew (SD 13:59), Interview With Michael Nyqvist (SD 13:06), Interview With Noomi Rapace (SD 19:36), and Millenium: The Story (SD 48:59); five trailers; and nine posters.

Reviewed previously, the 1080p 2.35:1 AVC pictures are the same transfers. The image quality is wonderful, with a perfectly natural character that accurately captures the bleak Swedish winter landscapes. The cinematography is magnificent, with an excellent dynamic impact. Contrast is excellent, with deep blacks and superb shadow delineation that reveals fine details and depth. Colors are naturally rendered with rich and perfectly balanced hues. Fleshtones are accurate throughout. Resolution is stunning, with revealing facial features and object textures. The imagery is sharp and clear and remarkably descriptive of real environments. The three films present a magnificent picture experience that is absolutely engaging. (Gary Reber)

The previous soundtrack releases were encoded in the lossy Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel format. While the soundtracks sounded superb, the new remastered lossless DTS-HD Master Audio™ 5.1-channel versions are certainly more accurate and more revealing, especially of low-level detail. The sound is intricate and well resolved. The recording quality is excellent, especially the orchestral music score, with its wide and deep soundstage that envelops the surrounds with a subtle but definite presence. The dialogue quality is also superb, with wonderful spatial integration that other filmmakers should emulate. The sound is faithful to the on-screen setting, with the dialogue perfectly scaled to each scene. Atmospheric effects are well integrated, to enhance the spatial soundscape. The preferred soundtrack is the Swedish language one, not the English 5.0-channel dubbed version, which loses the fine balance and spatial integration of the dialogue. Bass extension, while not prevalent, provides a solid foundation throughout, for a natural sonic balance. The .1 LFE channel is, at times, energized powerfully, especially in the climatic scenes. These are absolutely engaging soundtracks that are very well produced. (Gary Reber)