Review of David Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo thrills thanks to Rooney Mara's incredible performance as punk computer hacker Lisbeth Salander.
Her Goth hair is impressive the way it towers high above her scalp.
The multiple piercings and trademark dragoon tattoo across her slim back looks just as fans remember from Stieg Larsson’s trilogy of books and director Niels Arden Oplev’s Swedish film adaptation of the first book. When it comes to punk computer hacker and researcher Lisbeth Salander, the “girl” of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, director David Fincher measures everything to the smallest detail. Appearances matter in a large-scale Hollywood production like Sony Pictures Entertainment’s English-language remake of the hit Swedish thriller but they only tell half the story. Many Hollywood filmmakers focus on the latest CGI effect and tech advances in order to make their movies.
Fincher is something of a throwback because his prep work is all about auditions, casting and in the case of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, finding the right actress to play Salander.
Some may say that Fincher rolled the dice casting an unknown like Rooney Mara to play Salander but the 26-year-old actress is fantastic in every way as Salander.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a taut and fast-paced murder mystery but Mara gives the film its emotional heft. She’s both strong and damaged; vicious, yet tender when it comes to the people she cares about. Lisbeth is film’s most complicated female character in a long time and Rooney outdoes original actress Noomi Rapace to be the better Lisbeth of the two.
Fincher and scriptwriter Steven Zaillian also remake The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo into something new instead of just re-stitching the original movie and the book. The result is Fincher’s best film since the little-seen Zodiac.
Disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) investigates a crime and disappearance of a teenage niece from forty years ago for the patriarch of a wealthy Swedish family, Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer) but it’s not until Lisbeth, a rough-around-the-edges punk, joins as his research assistant that he slowly discovers the terrifying truth. Unfortunately for Blomkvist and Lisbeth, solving the mystery that’s baffled local police and the Vanger family means placing their lives in danger.
Daniel Craig makes a great James Bond with his rugged good looks and intense personality but I'm a bigger fan of his lesser-known art-house fare like Love is the Devil, as George Dyer, lowlife over to British artist Francis Bacon, as well as The Mother and Enduring Love, and his role as Blomkvist is a return to those art-house roles.
Fresh from his standout performance in the specialty dramas The Last Station and Beginners, as well as Terry Gilliam's fantasy The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Christopher Plummer crackles with presence as the wealthy Hanrik Vanger and his scenes with Craig bring an extra spark to the movie.
Mara dazzles as Lisbeth, a young woman who’s “different in every way.”
She makes a powerful visual impact on the movie; especially when speeding on her motorcycle like some leather-clad angel of death. But Mara’s great achievement is capturing the personal demons Lisbeth battles, and revealing that their damaged pasts are what bond Blomkvist and her so powerfully together.
Zaillian tweaks some key plot elements from Larsson’s book and the Swedish movie but many key scenes will be familiar to the original’s many fans.
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a return to the tense setting of Fincher’s classic thriller Se7en and the film is often brutal to watch especially around the pivotal scene when Lisbeth gains revenge on the twisted social worker assigned to her case.
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo may be the darkest holiday season release in some years due to its violent content but it’s this season’s best movie just the same thanks Fincher’s grand storytelling and artful work from his crew especially cameraman Jeff Cronenweth and composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
It’s worth noting that as veteran director Martin Scorsese offers something sweet and light with his children’s fantasy Hugo; Fincher delivers something brutal, dark and challenging. It's also interesting Mara debuts as Lisbeth just as Rapace, the original Lisbeth, makes her English-language debut in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.
Niels Arden Oplev, the direct of the Swedish original, may be unhappy with the Hollywood remake but audiences will enjoy Fincher's bold version of the gripping thriller and embrace it as the better movie.
Sometimes, when there’s great talent on both sides of the camera, a Hollywood remake can be a wonderful thing to behold.
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Cast: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgård, Robin Wright, Joely Richardson
Screenwriter: Steven Zaillian, from the novel by Stieg Larsson
Editor: Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall
Cinematographer: Jeff Cronenweth
Costume Designer:
Composer: Trent Reznor
Director: David Fincher
Producers: Columbia Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Scott Rudin Productions, Yellow Bird Films Running Time: 158 minutes
Rating: Rated R
Release Date: Dec. 21, 2011