Movie Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (U.S. version)
To me, David Fincher’s new, eagerly awaited movie “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” was a rather odd experience. This is probably the very first big American movie about Swedish characters, that takes place in Sweden, and actually was filmed on location in Sweden. The country where I was born, raised and still live.
As most of you loyal readers hopefully know, I’ve already reviewed the Swedish movie trilogy based on late author Stieg Larsson’s bestselling, worldwide phenomenon -- you can read my thoughts on the three earler movies HERE. This also means that I think it’s unnecessary to once again mention what this movie is about; the story is of course the same, with a few minor alterations (that I can think of). No, I still haven’t read the novels, I don’t intend to, and I haven’t seen the longer Swedish TV versions; the Swedish theatrical releases were actually edited mini-series.
This time, James Bond; Daniel Craig that is, plays Swedish news reporter Mikael Blomkvist, who’s hired by Christopher Plummer so solve the (rather uninteresting) case of a girl who disappeared 40 years ago and who probably was murdered. Rather unknown American actress Rooney Mara portrays the iconic hacker/Goth/social misfit Lisbeth Salander. In the Swedish version, Salander was played by young Swedish actress Noomi Rapace, who went on the get herself a Hollywood career; she’s in the new Sherlock Holmes movie and in the upcoming “Alien” prequel. (Incidentally, Michael Nyqvist, who was Blomkvist, plays the villain in “Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol”) I wouldn’t be surprised if this part does to Mara what it did to Rapace.
David Fincher’s two hour and 38 minute epic open with a pretty cool title sequence, while the music heard on the soundtrack is excellent: Trent Reznor and Karen O’s cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song”, the same song heard on the trailer. I saw the movie in a biiig movie theater with great sound, and since I’m a big fan of Trent Reznor, this was mind-blowing. Reznor, along with Atticus Ross, also provides the rest of the score, which is rather atmospheric and quite minimal -- it’s mainly rhythms, noises, sounds we barely notice. Oh, and one character wears a Nine Inch Nails T-shirt, which of course is pretty funny.
The first half hour, maybe the first third of the movie, I felt like I was watching exactly the same movie as last time; the Swedish one. Then I realized that, damn, I am watching the same movie one more time -- only a much better version of it. Locations, sets and in some cases even the actors look like they did in the first movie. Still, everything is better, more cinematic, the storytelling is better and so is the dialogue.
One very odd thing in the movie, is that the actors speak with some kind of “Swedish” accent, which of course sounds pretty funny to me. I guess that’s what people in France, Germany and other countries always have thought when Americans have played Frenchmen and Germans, but it still feels kind of unnecessary to give the British and American actors some kind of Scandinavian twist -- to me, they sound a little Norwegian. Daniel Craig doesn’t bother and speaks with his usual British accent, while Stellan Skarsgård, who is Swedish, talks like he usually does in his Hollywood movies; with a slight American accent. There are several more Swedish actors in the movie; legends like Per Myrberg, most of them old people -- meaning they speak with a very thick accent, some of them with a thick Stockholm accent -- the so-called Björn Borg English.
There are a few more oddities in the depiction of Sweden; people smoke in nightclubs (which isn’t allowed anymore), but otherwise, the details really amaze me. The accuracy is astonishing. This is however David Fincher’s (“Se7en”) version of Stockholm -- and Sweden -- so it’s all very dark, grim and threatening, and not as charming it might be in real life. I really likes the presence of my hometown of Landskrona, this must be the first time that small town has figured in a Hollywood movie -- if only on a map, on a computer screen and in a newspaper article. But still! Big city Malmö, where I live now, isn’t mentioned.
As I mentioned, this is a very long movie, and since I’ve seen the earlier version, I knew what was going to happen and who the killers was. Still, I didn’t find “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” the slightest bit boring, not draggy at all. This is a fascinating movie, highly entertaining, and if you don’t know the plot, I suppose it’s pretty damn thrilling.
Rooney Mara’s Lisbeth Salander is still a very strange character, but she’s much more likable than Noomi Rapace’s interpretation. The Rapace version was just bizarre, totally weird, and hard to like. Lots of people thought she was cool, but I didn’t. She acted strange, her lines of dialogue were strange, she wasn’t a real person. Rooney Mara is a little softer and she doesn’t have to utter odd lines. And -- the direction and cinematography is better, but that goes without saying.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this movie is a big hit, and I wouldn’t mind seeing Mara and Craig returning in movies based on the other two novels in the trilogy. If David Fincher directs them, that is. And brings Trent Reznor back.
Oh, and I liked the fact that the killer listens to Enya while torturing our hero!
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” opened in the U.S on December 20, in Scandinavia on December 21, and it will open in the UK on December 26.
Images copyright © Sony Pictures Entertainment
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Fincher's version is far from glammed up. Everybody's pasty-faced and more or less ugly in it. And I've never ever seen this many liver spots on Hollywood stars! I don't know if you saw the Swedish version, but what can I say -- this new one is a better movie.
How exciting! I saw the Swedish a while ago, and like a lot of others have been skeptical about thisAmerican-ized version. Maybe I should cast those judgements aside and just go for it. Ok, I will.
After all, the Swedish movies were made for television; the first one was supposed to open theatrically before airing on TV in an extended version, while the other two weren't intended for the big screen at all. However, since the first one was such a big worldwide hit, they decided to turn the other two into shorter theatrical feture film. But you can tell they clearly weren't intended for the larger format. Lots of talking heads and the cinematography is boring and uninspired. They were also directed by another guy (Daniel Aldredson, brother of Tomas, who made "Let the Right One In"). Fincher's movie is definitely a Big Theatrical Movie.
... And I like that Salander buys her groceries av Ica Kvantum. Or was it Daniel Craig? Kvantum of Solace?
I think Rapace's Lisbeth was much more dangerous, someone to be feared. I felt like Mara's version was overly romanticized- I'm thinking the multiple sex scenes (there's only one, very brief one involving Blomqvist and Salander in the original film) and the last scene of Fincher's version drive home that fact. Lisbeth has always been a character that possibly has a kind of anti-social mental disorder, and it's kept very ambiguous due to the nature of the narrative (crime against women/opression of women). I think Fincher's version does too much to hide that aspect of her character in favor of a standard "quirky genius sidekick" type of character. She's still bizarre, but much less so.
" The Rapace version was just bizarre, totally weird"...now her I have to see.
I really wanted the film to end when the killer died - although, I can't remember the film in detail now, and I can't actually remember if what followed the death of the killer was necessary or not.