Fincher’s Dragon Tattoo Thunders to Life
I feel like I just went through this in 2010. Just a little over a year ago I was writing a review of Let Me In, the English-language version of Let the Right One In, and at that time I expressed difficulty being able to separate the Swedish version from the American one, the two films coming out so close to one another making direct comparisons practically inevitable. It wasn’t that one version was remarkably better than the other one (both are excellent), it was that the nature of the story and the proximity of release made letting the newer one stand on its own merits kind of difficult, and if as I critic this is something I shouldn’t be admitting than excuse me for in all honesty it is exactly how I feel.
Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
© Sony Pictures
All of which probably explains why I’ve been having trouble writing up a review for director David Fincher and screenwriter Steven Zaillian’s mega-budget take on late Swedish author Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. This is a solid effort in every way that counts. Meticulously paced, fastidiously edited, expressively shot by veteran cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth (Fight Club), beautifully realized by Oscar-winning production designer Donald Graham Burt (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and magnificently cast, every single one of the film’s intimately unsettling 158 minutes fly right by. I could not take my eyes off the film and never once wanted to exit the theatre, all of which are attributes I don’t want to diminish or dispute in any way whatsoever.
At the same time, it cannot be helped that the feeling lingers throughout that I just watched this story, just shared ample amounts of time with main characters crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist and enigmatic self-reliant antihero Lisbeth Salander. Not only is Swedish filmmaker Niels Arden Oplev’s take on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo still fresh in my memory, so are its relatively forgettable sequels The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. As well done as Fincher’s version is, as wonderfully mesmerizing as it proves to be, the been there-done that quotient is still remarkably high, the taste left in my mouth at the end not so much bitter as a little off making me question what the point of a Hollywood financed remake was in the first place.
The answer, of course, is money. The $10-million domestic gross of the original is great for a foreign language thriller but paltry when compared to the massive international popularity of Larsson’s novels themselves and the potential for profits English versions could hopefully produce. It was inevitable that a studio was going to take the plunge and commit to a remake, and while I don’t have a problem with that I do question the timing and the fact the Swedish films are still so fresh in the minds of numerous members of the books’ legions of fans.
Do not misunderstand, if you have not seen Oplev’s film Fincher’s effort is not going to disappoint. The mystery at the core of things is still significantly twisted and intriguing, Daniel Craig is a strong, virile Blomkvist while Christopher Plummer and Stellan Skarsgård steal countless scenes as Henrik and Martin Vanger, the central figures in a 40-year-old murder mystery Blomkvist has been enlisted to try and solve. Certain sequences, especially the film’s deliriously vicious and emotionally thrilling buildup to the revealing of the identity of a particularly nasty serial killer, are a total kinetic kick to the gut, and even if the denouement isn’t as strong as it potentially could be that doesn’t make watching things all the way to the end anything close to a chore.
Then there is Rooney Mara. I didn’t think anyone could equal Noomi Rapace’s performance as Salander, didn’t think an actress could find any new ways to explore the character’s complex tragically angry nuances, but Mara does it and then some. There is stuff she does here that blew me away, decisions she makes that caught me by total surprise and forced me to sit up a little straighter in my theatre seat. There is a ferocity tinged with heartbreaking bits of sadness that brought tears to my eyes, and by the time Salander meets up with Blomkvist I completely believed in the character, her actions and her desires, knowing right then she would do everything and anything to help the journalist solve the mystery and bring a cagy and silent killer to justice.
You do get the feeling that this is Fincher working a bit on autopilot, but even when the man isn’t fully involved he still makes movies that are more invigorating and enthralling than the majority of his peers. Parts of this do have some of the same glossy sheen of say The Game or Panic Room, the weight and the majesty of the finished product never quite the equal of say Zodiac, Se7en or The Social Network. But this isn’t remotely a bad thing, every director is allowed to freestyle a little bit, let their hair down and have a bit of fun.
For Fincher, I get the feeling making The Girl with Dragon Tattoo is just that kind of fun. He gets to indulge himself a bit, head once more into Joseph Conrad’s heart of darkness and reveal once more that the evil that men do isn’t anywhere near as despicable or depraved as the damage we has humans have the potential to do to ourselves. While I have trouble separating his version from the original that doesn’t mean I still can’t recognize quality filmmaking, and if he does dine to return to helm the almost certain to be forthcoming sequel I’ll be eager to witness for myself if Fincher’s ultimate designs for the characters can surpass that found in the source material.
Film Rating: êêê1/2 (out of 4)
