Review of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) by Brett C — 25 Feb 2014

Looking in David Fincher's filmography makes one think "Why is this man not given more praise?". Fincher has yet made an awful film, though I have yet to see 2 of his films but I truly doubt that it would damage my opinion of him. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is his latest film and it holds up very well after many viewings. This film is a huge shift in tone and content from his previous film, but not something that we haven't seen him touch on before as he has always given a dark quality to his films; the previous film was much more lighter in it's subject. This film was recently made in Sweden, along with two sequels, and they were received positively. I have seen the first two of that trilogy but I never thought of it as a triumph. The Swedish films were more graphic as I recall, but it was a couple of years ago and my memory of it isn't really clear. Fincher's take on the franchise is released only a short time from the Swedish trilogy and during it's release, people thought this was going to be irrelevant in comparison as the ones already made were already quite good. I personally believe that this isn't a film that should not be ignored, you can love the original all you like but one can only say that if they have seen this film.

The film's screenplay was written by Steven Zaillian and it was based off a novel written by Stieg Larsson. Zaillian has proved himself as a writer with great films like The Schindler's List, Moneyball and American Gangster. Zaillian again does not disappoint with this film creating an adaptation that stays mostly enough with the source material while making the story fitting for a cinematic adaptation. This is one of those rare moments where I have read the novel and was happy with it, so I came into this with high expectations. As I have said, Zaillian has made a faithful enough adaptation of the novel that fans of the book should be happy with the end result but at the same time, this is what I was mainly annoyed with when watching the film. This issue is more my fault than the film's as me knowing the events that would unfold during the film has resulted in me losing the ability to be excited as the mystery of the film is ruined, and that is one of the key factors that makes this film great; who killed Harriet? Then something happens in the third act of the film that caught me by surprise, Zaillian changed a key ingredient that was in the novel and had me gasping when it came on, not by anger but rather by excitement. I didn't care for the slight change from the novel as I found it to be exciting and interesting, though I cannot speak for the fans of the novel as I can understand why they would be upset with the change. The film contains one driving storyline, the Harriet murder, and surrounding it are a few sub plots that are character studies for the two protagonists. The film speaks about the stories that haunt our lives, whether they may be small or drastic. They are things that we try to conceal because it brings up so much pain. So for our protagonist to be snooping around skeletons in other people's closet it puts him in danger of knowing too much and hurting him in the process. The film is also a story about revenge, with all of our characters seeming to be driven by this; Blomkvist with Weenerstrom, Vanger with the person responsible for Harriet, Lisbeth with all the men in the world. I found this to be very engaging and enables to show the darker side to these characters and not have them be too idealistic in their intentions. Zaillian depicts the men in the film, similarly to what Larsson did for the novel, to be a power hungry being that looks at women as just toys to be played with or to be controlled. This may upset a few of it's female audience because of the way they are being treated in this film. Lisbeth seems to represent the symbol of power in women that is normally hesitated in films. There may not be a lot of focus on her during this film as one would expect, but she actually does all of the heroic things that one would expect from the male lead. As I said, she wasn't very focused in this film, this goes same for the book, and I am aware that there is more in store for her character in the next installments but for now, watching this film alone, it feels like it's showing things about Lisbeth we don't quite understand yet and it did kind of make the film a tad bit weaker for me. When the next installments do come out and explore this character with much more detail, then this film would be seen as perfect.

The film was directed by David Fincher and he isn't a stranger to the thriller/mystery genre but none of his previous films can compare to the character development that is found in this film. Fincher seems to be in love with these characters and wanted to preserve as much detail about them from the book as possible. I think this was why I was really hooked because these characters truly were interesting and the fact that Fincher doesn't hold back in giving us scenes of them, even if it only creates a tiny bit of development in their characters, makes me want to revisit these characters again and again. Aside from the brilliant indulgence of his characters, he also wanted to crate something interesting with the mystery aspect of the film. The way he shows us the evidence were thrilling having our eyes locked onto the screen throughout the entire time. Fincher also wanted to shine a light on the new and contemporary style of bring a detective; it's not about the style of the long trench coats anymore and the methods of gaining information is different, placing emphasis on the use of technology in order to gain it. I was also impressed with the idea of mixing this contemporary approach of being a detective with a classic murder story, like a bridge of sorts. This film maintains it's darkness all the way through, and it doesn't try to shock us on how disturbing it goes because straight from the start, particularly the title sequence, we already know how frightening this film is going to be. I didn't have a problem with it because I enjoy it when filmmakers pushes over the edge, even if it's not very far. The film contains areas of romance particularly with the leads, though not in the conventional sense, Fincher was able to make it believable on why Lisbeth was attracted to Mikael, making the end all the more heartbreaking. It's content may not be appealing to a lot of people, but if you can tolerate on how dark this film gets, then you would be rewarded with a great story filled with thought provoking themes.

The film's cinematography was handled by Jeff Cronenweth. Cronenweth and Fincher have decided to give this film a decolorized look, at moments almost to the point of looking lifeless like a graveyard. Cronenweth has taken a blue-grey pallete in exterior scenes within the Vanger compound. This was probably done to emphasise the idea of death and despair, while at the same time creating this effect that gives the film a dark personality. The indoor scenes on the other hand uses this golden hue, not entirely clear on the emphasis but it does create this effect of warmth from the cold world outside. The film contains these beautiful pans and titls that allows the film to flow slowly. There are also a lot of opportunities of showing exteriors of the film, ranging from the icy streets of sweden to the lifeless Vanger compound. Fincher also utilised visual effects in this film in order to create the look he wanted, while also bringing a level of detail that would have been too difficult if done manually. Cronenweth was also successful in emphasising this idea of power that is being explored on the men in this film. Whenever they create this idea of dominance, Cronenweth seems to choose the right angles and placement in order to emphasise it.

The film's score was handled by both Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who also worked on Fincher's previous film "The Social Network". What they did for that film was excellent and what they have done for this film was nearly at par with it. They have created a dark and haunting score that really does have your body cringing and scared as, along with the imagery, it emphasises on the layer of people's lives that we generally stay away from. The score combines the traditional orchestral approach with electronic punk stylings, which creates this contemporary sound that is appropriate with the film's characters. The film's theme song, a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song", was hauntingly cool and appropriate with the film's tone.

The film's acting was top notch. Daniel Craig as Mikael Blomkvist wasn't a defining performance as his work on the Bond series, but the film does feature more layers to the character in comparison to James Bond, so there is a much higher range in his acting being displayed here. His portrayal was believable though he looks a little too clean for the character, as I always thought of Blomkvist to be a bit more close to reality in regards to his look, Craig just looked a bit too good in the role. The stand out performance was from Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander. This was her breakout role and it gained her a nomination for Best Actress. She changed so much of herself in order to sell the character and it definitely payed off. She is almost exactly what I pictured Lisbeth to be when I read the novel. Mara played this skinny, edgy looking woman with an aura of power that very few women can project. Mara seems to understand the role in ways that others can't even imagine. Christopher Plummer as Henrik Vanger was great for the couple of scenes that he was in. Robin Wright as Erika Berger was only average, containing an accent that felt fake and incredibly forced. I had a problem with the film's casting of the other members of the Vanger family, as Fincher had either uniformally casted each one with at least a well known actor or have each one be played by an annonymous actor in order to create a sense of importance with each one and lowering the chances of the audience predicting the murderer.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is so close in being another film that I consider perfect from Fincher, but this opinion may change as time pass, maybe seeing more from this film that I didn't during my revent viewing. It contains a wonderfully faithful adaptation of the mystery thriller from Steven Zaillian and has brilliant direction from David Fincher. It also boasts a stellar cast, with a breakthrough performance by Rooney Mara. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo will leave you shocked and wanting more.