Movie Review: ‘THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO’ (2011)

We are running with two reviews of David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo to give readers two perspectives on this new adaptation. Michael Haffner has read the novel and has seen the Swedish adaptation while Andy Triefenbach has not. Read Michael’s review here to see if it is different from Andy’s.

One of the most anticipated films of the year is finally here. David Fincher returns off of his Academy Award nomination for Best Director and Best Picture from The Social Network with the American adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I will admit that even though the story has either been experienced by most people by reading the novel or seeing the Swedish adaptation, I never read the book or saw the original film. When I was about to see the 2009 film, I heard that Fincher was readying himself to direct the American film. I decided to hold out to see if I could have a different reaction than the majority of my colleagues who have seen the 2009 adaptation.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is an oddly structured story (I only say story instead of film because I hear the book has the same delivery) where it is a film divided in three segments of sorts. We are first introduced to Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) as he has lost a substantial lawsuit that questions his integrity as a journalist and will possibly lose his life savings because of it. He is later approached by the Vanger Corporation and is propositioned by an aging Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer) to help with his legal issues in return for investigating into a now 40 year old disappearance of Henrik’s niece, Harriet. Henrik believes she has been murdered by someone within the Vanger family but has never been able to find any proof to confirm his theory. Blomkvist agrees to move onto the island that is mainly inhabited by the Vanger family. He quickly realizes he needs an assistant to help him research into this mystery and ends up with the same researcher, Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), that the Vanger Corporation hired to do a extensive background check on him. Lisbeth, while talented, also uses her computer hacking skills to find additional information that gives her an advantage against other security investigators. Together, Lisbeth and Mikael dig into the past of the Vanger family through what could be something akin to procedural police work.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is an odd structure as it feels like a three part TV show. The first act establishes the characters of Blomkvist and Salander separately. A good 45 minutes or more is spent with these two characters never meeting. Personally, I think that this might be the weakest aspect of the film and it is not Fincher’s fault as this, from what I hear, is how the novel is structured as well. Instead of Fincher or screenwriter Steven Zaillian improving on this fault, they roll with the punches. Once the meat of the story, the mystery and investigative aspect, starts the film is quietly interesting. Much like Fincher’s Zodiac, the most interesting part of the mystery is the characters who are either involved or Blomkvist’s obsessive nature of investigation. Essentially, we see Blomkvist live and breathe the case without very little rest. Sometimes distractions come into play, like his daughter who is introduced at the beginning of the film and shows up midway through the movie to give her father a revelation on a clue thanks to a biblical reference, but for the most part this is Blomkvist teaming up with Salander and developing a relationship with her through collaboration despite the grim details they are discovering. There is a connection between the both of them that almost seems like fate that just cannot be denied. The other fault of the film is essentially the mystery. The killer is pretty predictable throughout the film however I give some leniency due to the fact that the mystery doesn’t really end with finding out who the killer is, granted it is a big part though.

Daniel Craig does a fine job playing Blomkvist because of a certain vulnerability he brings to the character. As on paper, Blomkvist can be looked down upon due the fact that he is having an affair with his head editor and seems to put his work before his family however you can relate to him in the film because of Craig’s likability. The real standout is Rooney Mara’s performance as Lisbeth Salander. The original Swedish adaptation had Noomi Rapace playing Salander and really won over viewers because of her performance. So much so that there was a campaign to have her reprise her role. I still haven’t seen the Swedish adaptation but Mara’s performance is bold, brave and entrancing. She is anti-social yet intriguing. Her interpretation of Salander is definitely a memorable one and will burn into your brain for weeks to come, along with some the actions that carries out, specifically how she handles her sadistic legal guardian assigned to her.

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross deliver, yet again, with an amazing score that differs a bit from their previous collaboration with Fincher. With their The Social Network score, it added a aggressive side to the character of Mark Zuckerberg and accompanied the speed of the written dialogue by Aaron Sorkin. In Dragon Tattoo, the score is the driving force behind Lisbeth Salander, however the score really accompanies her like a passenger on her motorcycle.

While Fincher’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo might not be his best directed film due some pacing issues but the main faults are with the story. It will just make you wish that they made some improvements to the story as opposed to being meticulously faithful to the novel.