For a year now I've had to hear about how remaking the Swedish "masterpiece" The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was a travesty upon humanity! That it could never be improved. I didn't care much for this. The American version was going to be directed by David Fincher, who is one of the best living directors today. So I just had a wait and see attitude. So this past week, I breezed through the book, saw the Swedish version, and just now have seen the America version. And it is now beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the American version is about one million times the better film. It isn't even fair to compare it. The American version improves on the Swedish film in every single possible aspect. Everything. This includes acting, direction, the story telling, style and most of all, how closely it follows the novel. so if you have never seen the Swedish version, don't. It isn't even worth it anymore now that we have this one. If you have seen the Swedish version, watch this one. Especially if you are a fan of the book. I will from here on out bitch slap anybody out of existence who lies to me and claims the Swedish version is better. That's an insult to my intelligence and to modern day cinema.
So with that out of the way, lets get to the film. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, based on the book of the same name, centers on a disgraced journalist who is hired by a rich Swedish industrialist to investigate who in his family killed his niece nearly 40 years ago. As he digs up answers and new puzzle pieces, he'll seek help from a hacker named Lisbeth Salander. She of said tattoo. the two investigate the murder and find themselves in increasing danger, and also form an unlikely emotional bond with each other that starts to break away Salander's otherwise ice cold demeanor.
The BEST thing this film does that the Swedish version butchered, is properly build and legitimately establish the friendship and bond between the journalist and Salander. Their chemistry they have is fantastic, and the two characters feed off each other effortlessly. As a result, this movie is essentially about 2 entirely different things that just to happen to tie into each other. On one hand you have the investigation into the murder, and on the other you have Salander's evolution as a character. Lisbeth Salander is the real star of the show. She's a fantastic character. A self reliant, ice cold emotionless creature, who appears almost zombie like at first. We witness as she endures one truly horrific event, which I wont spoil, and then the brilliant and cheer worthy way in which she retaliates. Once she meets the journalist, we see as her standard icy demeanor is slowly chipped away, showing that beneath it all is an actual vulnerable person who has real feelings and real emotions. One complaint that I can see lodged at this movie, is that the movie goes on well after the crime aspect is resolved. But to dismiss these scenes would be folly. They resolve Salander's story, which is just as vital to the movie and it's where the movie gets it's heart and soul. It elevates it above being a standard fair crime/mystery film into something more personal, and the film's melancholy ending is simply pitch perfect. Exactly as it was in the book.
As Salander, actress Rooney Mara(she who dumped Mark Zuckerberg at the beginning of The Social Network) is perfect. She expresses herself with only cold stares and body movements, and her dead end stares can send daggers in your direction. She is the embodiment of the character as described in the book. Then when the character finally starts to show some humanity, she again captures it beautifully. It's an excellent performance, one that should please the books fans.
As far as an adaptation goes, it's impossible to imagine this being better. There are only a few slight changes, nothing truly major. Mostly just to move the story along a bit faster. But they do manage to stuff in as much of the investigation of the mystery as possible. This is no surprise since director David Fincher loves that kind of stuff. He's a director in which the smallest of details mean just as much as the actual story. He actually manages to add a few nifty, yet demented flourishes throughout.(just wait til you see where he decides to place the song Orinoco Flow by Enya. I'll never think of that song the same again.) And the subject matter of the book was right up his alley. This is now yet another masterpiece of a film that can be attributed to him. It's excellent on every level. including the soundtrack by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, That soundtrack, which I think is easily better than the one they did for Social Network, manages to be haunting and foreboding and yet serene all at once. There are some seens which come off more intense than they normally would be just with the sounds Reznor and Ross apply to it. They deserve another Oscar for it.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a fascinating film. It's morbid, haunting, gleefully dark and bitter sweet all at once. It rises above standard fair crime story by focusing just as much on the relationship between two complex characters, and going full through with their emotional arc as well as resolving the story at hand. A near perfect adaptation of the book, David Fincher has nailed this one better than anybody else ever could. It's the best movie I've seen in 2011.
A+
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