The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

At this point, what more can I say about “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"? For this site, I have written a commentary about the books and the Swedish films. I reviewed the original film (for a different site; blasphemy, I know) when it came to Indiana and I’ve talked loads about the original books throughout the Internet. Now there’s a new movie without those pesky subtitles. What’s new?

On one hand, it’s fine that this story has been continuously retold. I’ve seen a million incarnations of “Hamlet” on stage and screen and that doesn’t bother me. I’m fine revisiting that story because every time I watch it, there is something new to latch onto with the direction and approach. “Hamlet” is a play that has held up throughout time because of themes that affect different people, so there can be several different incarnations with only general narrative similarities.

But “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” has only been around for a few years. Every version has been faithful enough to the original that the only way to compare them is to really get down to minutiae. Is the American version better than the Swedish version? No. There’s really not enough new and what is repeated pales in comparison. While keeping the original Swedish location, director David Fincher creates pacing that's simultaneously high-speed and dull, rushing through the scenes instead of focusing on the eerie stillness of the land. Fincher feels that he has to juice up an already intense story and it doesn’t work.

The two leads are very good. Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig bring their own takes to the characters that are quite successful because they go against their typical performances. The very cute Mara gives a fearless performance threatened only by a stupid character addition in the final minutes. Craig doesn’t try to play the coolest guy in the room, but is faithful to Stieg Larsson’s idea that Blomkvist is more of the sidekick to Salander’s alpha presence.

All of the supporting characters are a bit disappointing due to their casting. Hollywood used to make mysteries like “Murder on the Orient Express” and “Death on the Nile” that had A-list actors in all of the major roles so it would be more of a challenge to discover who was the murderer. Without saying much more, now it is the typical dull behavior of a series of unknowns and then one big name.

What I hope this movie achieves is a sequel. “The Girl Who Played With Fire” is my favorite of the trilogy, and the Swedish version is a flat disappointment. I wouldn’t want Fincher back, but this cast and the right director could do something really special with it. Then everyone will need to work really, really hard to make “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” a dynamic movie.

There are two versions of this movie you can buy. You can get the Blu-ray, which has a ton of impressive bonus features that highlight the production from every angle. Or you can get the DVD, which has a cheap package, a cheap-looking disc and only a commentary by Fincher. Guess which one I had to review?

Film: 3.5 Yaps Extras: 1.5 Yaps