The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
So this is the American film based on the series of books that has everyone pumped up. They made a TV series turned into a movie trilogy (or vice versa – I don’t know) and now an American remake by David Fincher (who basically can do no wrong it seems). Trent Reznor is back doing the music, which if I was a pirate would have downloaded last night ;).
Before I get into it, let me say that I have never seen the TV/movie series, and have never read the books. I decided to wait and see the American one first, only as an experiment. See I always like the originals and hate remakes, but in this case, I have seen the remake first – so now I will go back and watch the original to see what I like more. There have been some remakes I like – Night of the Living dead and True Grit, and some remakes I like more than the original, like 3:10 to Yuma, Scarface and The Thing (the second remake, not third – or prequel as they called it). So I am ok with seeing a new take on something.
People have been really loving the original Swedish “Girl” trilogy and most have liked this new one too. I have also heard that a lot of people like the actress who played the Girl in the original one better than the Rooney Mara – well if that original girl is better than Rooney then she must be the best actress of all time, because Rooney was bloody amazing in this film and should win best actress!
So I walked into this blind, I didn’t know the story at all. All I knew was that there was a killer of women and Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara had to find him. That’s it. Of course there is so much more than that, and this is a very complex thriller in the vein of Silence of the Lambs and Seven (Fincher also directed that one) except it’s much more complex and the mystery is really well done.
The Mystery – so some girl went missing decades ago and it’s up to Daniel Craig to TCB (take care o business) and find the girl’s killer. He stumbles upon some evidence that shows a bunch of murders that may be connected to the missing girl in some way. He then calls on the help of Lisbeth Salander (Rooney) to help him connect the dots. That’s all I will give away, except to say that you better pay attention during this movie, there is a hell of a lot going on!
The Violence – this movie is NOT for the timid. It has a violent rape scene that was very uncomfortable to watch – even for me (although I have seen much much worse), and there is a lot of descriptive dialogue about the murders. But it’s really not too bad. Think of Seven – you didn’t really see any gore, but it was just explained in detail. The rape scene is bad, but I think if you try and tune it out, it will be ok. It’s not overlong or anything like in “I Spit On Your Grave” or something, and Lisbeth’s revenge on the rapist is very satisfying in a realistic way that doesn’t involve her doing anything horrific. I was expecting castration or something, but that would make her too crazy, so they opted for something more to her character – the title of the film is a clue.
The Music – so Trent Reznor is back with Fincher, they worked on Social Network, and I think this score is even better than that one! This is one of the few films I have seen (in this day and age) where the music is actually helps in telling the story. See this film has a lot of clues and details and names, even though it’s all explained, it’s sometimes hard to follow exactly what is happening. That’s where the music helps in setting the mood. When Daniel Craig is going through 100 photos of potential clues and suspects, the music starts to get very intense, which tells me that he is on to something big without actually revealing what it is, so that you are still in suspense as to what will happen next, but you know something big will happen! I know this is obvious, but I don’t see it much in other films, so I thought I would point it out here.
The Actors – Rooney Mara was brilliant. She must win best actress. I loved her character and was very into everything she was doing. I felt her angry and frustration at a world that didn’t understand her, and didn’t even bother to try, and I was very sad for her at one part which I won’t reveal here. She was great and I cannot wait to see her return for the next installment.
Craig was good too! Very solid and felt like a real person and I didn’t get any James Bond vibes from him either. I think he won’t be typecast as Bond after he finishes his run.
All in all this is a 5 star movie big time. It is for adults (hence the R rating) and if you are squeamish, then I would recommend caution. But if you can handle a bit of violence you will discover a truly great story and film!
5/5
J-Man.
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