Movie Review

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (David Fincher, 2011)

Rob Schlegel

Personally speaking, I’m a big fan of the late Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy - a story told in three parts centred around Swedish journalist Mikael Blomkvist and computer hacker Lisbeth Salander. Being a fan of the books and the original Swedish film adaptations, I went into the theatre hoping for a faithful recreation, but wary that it could end up being an overly stylised and Hollywoodified parody, as many re-boot films have been. Thankfully, this ended up not being the case.

Starting with acting, Daniel Craig does an impressive job as Blomkvist. While the original portrayal by Michael Nyqvist was serviceable but on its own wholly unimpressive, Craig’s approach to the role does the seemingly impossible and at times matches up with Lisbeth Salander’s character. Salander herself, played by Rooney Mara, is all over the shop - at times I found myself yearning for the old Lisbeth back, and at other times found her handling of certain scenes, particularly the ones where she exacts revenge on her legal guardian Nils Bjurman and the conclusion of the chase scene incredibly impressive. It doesn’t hurt that she’s downright beautiful, which makes the sex scenes (at least the consensual ones, more on that later) and the shots where she “dresses down” (not to give too much away) at the end of the movie very easy to look at.

Visually the film is downright stunning. David Fincher does a great job capturing the darkness of the story in the frame with lots of dark lighting, blacks and greys - even the snow refuses to be pure white and carries a sinister shade. While some of the settings could do a better job of appearing authentically Swedish, they do work fine. The only thing I was really disappointed with is the revealing of the gifts Henrik Vanger receives every year, which is much, much more epic in the original version. Basically, the film succeeds at making the big scenes bigger, but in true Hollywood fashion sometimes loses sight of the subtleties that pushed the original (and much lower budget) version forward.

When it comes to music, there is no better person on earth to be a part of this project than Trent Reznor. Say what you will about Nine Inch Nails (especially near the end) and that band he’s doing with his wife at the moment - a film soundtrack is a perfect project for someone like Reznor, who has an unmatched level of skill in the studio but sometimes lacks creative direction. The film has held him by the hand and coaxed some really impressive compositions out of him and not once do they try to steal your attention from the film. It’s tasteful, it fits, and it benefits the final product.

A bit of a warning for potential viewers: much like the first film adaptation, there are depictions of non-consensual sex and animal cruelty in the film. These are very upsetting and may be too much for some people. During the former I saw a number of people leave the theatre. Another less serious warning: the movie is over two and a half hours long. If you don’t have that long of an attention span, this might be one to miss.

All in all I really liked the film. It at times surpasses its older Swedish sister, but in the end I find the original adaptation more consistent and faithful to the story. I will absolutely go and see the second film in the series when it is released, and this is most definitely a few rungs above the vast majority of movies that are screened in theatres these days.

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