Stieg Larsson's Millenium trilogy was first adapted for the screen in its original Swedish language by director Niels Arden Oplev, but as it is often the case, Hollywood decided to make its own version. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, is a gritty, sexually explicit and unembellished version of an equally brutal story. Directed by David Fincher, it shows committed and powerful performances by Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig in a tightly-woven, if slightly unoriginal, whodunit take on the story.
The story is set in Sweden, when famous investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Craig) and his sometimes girlfriend/partner/editor Erika Berger (Robin Wright) fall from grace when he is charged with libel, sentenced to jail and completely loses his journalistic credibility.
Enter Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer), a powerful businessman with a hateful family and dangerous secrets, seeking peace from his torments by asking Blomkvist to find out what happened to his niece, believed to have been murdered by a member of his family some forty years previously. Having lost everything, and despite protests from his own friends and family, Mikael decides to move to rural Hedestad for the year and becomes absolutely consumed with finding out what happened. He enlists the help of anti-social hacker Lisbeth Salander (Mara) and together they piece the puzzle until they find out the truth.
It's the simplified premise of a complicated story, and Fincher plays the traditional elements of the whodunit formula with grit and a shocking dose of realism: the rape scenes and the aftermath are brutally graphic, and the sexual sequences unadorned with the Hollywood steam factor. Running just under three hours, it's a true testament to efficient storytelling because it never feels long.
However, the film fails to really grasp the complexity of the story and what is at stake for the characters: it merely simplifies it to a murder-mystery tale with suspects, written clues, pictures and interviews with nefarious neighbours who all seem to have a motive and no alibi.
Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander
At the heart of the story is Lisbeth Salander, the anti-social, violent and enraged punk who is misunderstood by society and abused by its players. Rooney Mara, mostly known for her small role as Mark Zuckerberg's girlfriend in The Social Network, plays Lisbeth with complete commitment and the amazing ability to convey the complexity of her character while seemingly not doing much at all.
Besides the remarkable physical transformation which makes the actress completely unrecognizable, Mara can simultaneously convey anger, tenderness, confusion and apathy without so much as uttering a single word. Beyond that, she fearlessly pushes her performance beyond the boundaries of the obscene, baring herself in ways which are uncommon for big blockbuster Hollywood movies. She shows a fierce yet vulnerable Lisbeth, a victim and a fighter, the contradictions subtle but consistently present.
Also worthy of mention is Daniel Craig's take on the fallen investigative journalist Blomkvist. I think it needs to be said here that I profoundly dislike his pouty lips and I am always unreasonably disgruntled when he's cast as anything but a mechanic (which I'm fairly sure he has yet to portray--and don't get me started on James Bond). But, despite my best intentions to dislike him, I was very surprised by the layers in his acting and the wit he brings to Mikael Blomkvist.
Both self-loathing and arrogant, Craig shows the character's vulnerability and his perceived weakness for women without making him look pathetic. You root for him until the end without any of his jump through glass, defy death, confused look and pouty-lipped nonsense of James Bond.
All in all, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is good enough to live up to its name, despite being not much more than a simple murder-mystery with edge. Fincher manages to capture the essence of Lisbeth Salander without losing us in the plot development, while keeping interest high in an unusually long movie. I recommend it--but be forewarned: it is brutal, and it is graphic. Enjoy!
Shanna Roberts-Salee - Shanna is 24 years old and at a loss for describing herself. She enjoys off-colour jokes, Douglas Coupland and all things Bob ...
