Review of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) by John Eric D — 24 Sep 2014

A mostly soulless telling of a great modern mystery story. Fincher still has a great eye for staging shots, but here it feels like he is just following a checklist of scenes from the book. The performances are fine all around, though I much prefer Noomi Rapace to Rooney Mara.

The pacing is also a major issue in this version, as many scenes feel rushed and others just pointless. My other complaint is this version features some scenes that were tweaked for unnecessary shock value. The Swedish film got the point across in the same scenes without dragging them out, but Fincher seems to revel in trying to make the viewers squirm here. Instead, it just rings hollow and self-indulging of the director.

Overall, a decent film. If at all possible though, find the Swedish version and enjoy one of the best modern mysteries on film.