On Christmas Eve, a friend and me decided to go to the movies and catch The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Before I get into my reaction, let me state for the fact: my relationship with this film can be described as rather layered at best. First let’s mention the book – at present, I am only a partially through it. But I do have every intention to finish reading this and the other two books of the Millennium trilogy. I only started reading the book after so many people recommended it. Prior to that I had no intention of reading the series.
But I was well aware of the popularity of the novel and its Hollywood adaptation; in fact this is the second cinematic incarnation of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy. I have previously seen the Swedish three-part film series – well most of it anyway. While I liked the first two installments, I gave up about 30 minutes into the third film.
So you can imagine my trepidation in watching this glossy, Hollywood-stylized version of such dark source material. In general I am not a fan of these Hollywood “re-imaginings” of already established foreign films. Ultimately, my fear was that this big-budget Tattoo would be sanitized and cleansed of some of the source material’s (and Swedish film version’s) ‘grittier’ aspects.
As I walked out of the theater, all those concerns had vanished. I never should have doubted Mr. Fincher. In the end, I personally feel like this version was superior to its Swedish counterpart.
The head of the once-powerful industrialist Vanger family (Christopher Plummer) recruits the recently disgraced co-publisher of Millennium magazine Mikael Blomqvist (Daniel Craig). Blomqvist’s assignment is to investigate a 40-year old mystery surrounding the disappearance of Vanger’s niece, Harriet. During the course of his investigation, Blomqvist enlists the services of asocial hacker/private investigator/wunderkid Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), who he has a somewhat loose association with – she was the person who investigated (often through not-so-legal means) Blomqvist for his current assignment. Together, they begin to piece together just what happened all those years ago. Will they ‘solve’ the riddle before it is too late?
I think the narrative is good, in fact, I think that it is almost indestructible. The mystery and eventually piecing together of all the disparate elements are very thrilling and you are left on the edge of your seat, wondering what is behind it all. The Swedish version did a good job in telling the story, but I felt as if the quality steadily declined. In contrast, David Fincher (and screenwriter Steve Zaillian) exceeded my expectations in capturing the spirit of the text and at keeping the story moving. And in spite of the glossiness of the production, I was satisfied to see that some of the tougher elements as were described in the text were pretty much preserved in the film.
That said, as has been pointed out to me by many book readers (who completed the book), by the time we reach the end of the film, key plot elements were changed in the Swedish version; the Hollywood version stayed truer to the Larsson text, although with some minor alterations.
Another aspect of the film that I was pleasantly surprised by was my reaction to the soundtrack; an awesome opening sequence revealed that Trent Reznor of Nine in Nails composed the musical score. When I saw his name appear, I must admit that not being a fan of NIN, I was a little less than enthusiastic. But for the second time in this screening, I was proved wrong; the musical accompaniment matched the pace and the tone of the film very well. This seems to be part of a greater trend in Hollywood – the replacement of ‘traditional orchestral scores for modern, edgier music.
The casting was absolutely superb. Every character was just as I imagined them to be while reading the book. Along with the casting you have the acting, all of which also hit the mark. Along with the principle characters, I would like to note the performances of Robin Wright and Stellan Skarsgård.
Lastly, Jeff Cronenweth wonderfully photographs the desolate and sombre Swedish landscape.
Now, for the not-so-good news. One reservation I have with the film is – the dreaded clock-watching! At almost 3-hrs, it is a rather long film and I have to admit as I got towards the film’s final 45 minutes, I sat there thinking, “they could have tightened this up a bit.”
The second thing I wanted to point out is the matter of the film’s release date. Of course this has nothing to do with the film proper, but I think it was an odd choice to release such a downer of a film around ye merry ole holidays. Looking at the box office receipts for the opening weekend, confirms that movie audiences probably thought the exact same thing. I am certain, however, that over the course of Tattoo’s cinema run, the receipts will pick up.
These criticisms aside, I ended up liking this film a lot more than I had anticipated.
I look forward to finishing the books and catching the second and third parts of the film franchise.
Scott Lawlor says
Great write up matey! We went to see it last night. Although I enjoyed it, I still prefer the extended swedish version, if I am honest. I am not really a fan of Mara.
I am happy you got more form this than we did though.
(Teri posted a very positive review of this a few weeks back on FRC, 4/5, so maybe I am just a grumpy pants)
iluvcinema says
Cheers, Scott. This is the beauty of cinema … we take our own own hopes, fears, etc. into the screening and we get all get out of it something unique. Sometimes that leads to consensus (i.e. a film like The Artist) and at other times, the response is much more mixed, like in this film. I really did not know what to make initially; in fact about a year when it was announced that this film was in production, I had written up a draft and everything railing against proclivity to not leave well enough alone.
Like I said in the review it is obviously not without fault … the running time is a bit much for me; that said that may have been a reservation in the Swedish version as well.
Eric says
Nice review. I am still torn as to what version I liked better, but I thought Fincher did a bang-up job with the source material. Mara and Craig were perfectly cast, and the soundtrack from Reznor/Ross added a whole new layer to the film.
iluvcinema says
Yeah it was a tough call. I was debating internally because like I said your gut tells you the original native version should always be superior to any second imagining. Being a Hollywood product makes it that much easier to be too quick to dismiss it.
Ja Dawson says
‘iluv,’ this is a very solid review. i can not say that i am necessarily apt to see this (most likely on Netflix) but it appears to be a solid film. it’s amazing how great a film producer that fincher has become, given his start as music video director. but i guess you have to start somewhere. nice write-up.
iluvcinema says
The progression kind of makes sense; in videos you have to learn how to create a tidy narrative in the short span of time – definitely a skill to be looked upon favorably in a feature film
Ja Dawson says
Very good point…
3guys1movie says
Great review, I was hoping that this was going to be as good as the original film. However, I was a bit shocked that I like it so much more. Fincher brought his A game for sure with this offering.
iluvcinema says
I agree 3guys. I went in with somewhat low expectations, thinking nothing could be better than the original, SWEDISH version, eh?