The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Well the trailers certainly had this one right. "The Feel Bad Movie of Christmas" is just that. But if you have read the books, you knew what to expect. I myself have read all of the books and while I think they are a little over-hyped, they are still extremely entertaining. My favorite one is the second book titled The Girl Who Played With Fire. I always thought that The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo played too much on luck with regards to the main criminal investigation that surrounds the novel. That so-called luck is very apparent in this movie and often, connections are made with the assumptions that the audience will go along with it. But at the same time, the book that the movie is based on packs a lot of information into it, so in order to make a movie about it, you have to move quickly unless your name is Peter Jackson and this is The Return of the King. 


As a whole, I loved the film because it was so very close to the book. The locations, the feeling of it all, the darkness, the gloominess...it all just gelled very similar to how I felt when I read the book. Especially the characters. I have not been so impressed by acting since Heath Ledger portrayed the Joker. Rooney Mara went through a HUGE transformation to play this role and my God did it pay off.

Yeah, you will see this expression a lot

Mara plays the titular character, Lisbeth Salander. A unsociable, damaged, moral-driven person. And when I say morals, I mean her own personal morals. Mara nails Lisbeth Salander and literally brings her alive on the screen. The way she can't hold a gaze, the way she talks to those she likes and doesnt like, her sexuality...it's all here and it's all done extremely well. I really hope that she gets an Oscar nomination for her work. She certainly deserves it. 

I must be lost...this isnt James Bond

But not to be outdone is Daniel Craig who plays the reporter, Mikael Blomkvist. In the books, Mikael is an approachable person who women often feel safe with. He obsesses over his work until it is complete and values friendship and loyalty above most everything. Surprisingly enough, the man who we know as James Bond portrays these emotions and traits just as you would expect from Mikael, and it makes the movie all that much better having a second strong lead. As far as everyone else? I would say that I was very happy with the character choice. A few of them weren't how I pictured them (Armansky comes to mind) but that is not the movie's fault. I particularly liked Erica Berger's actress as well as Bjurman's. 

Lisbeth is pretty much a badass

BUT...there is a glaring weakness in the movie, or at least in my opinion. I think that while David Fincher (the director) has a great vision, he seriously has ADD or something. Similar to The Social Network (possibly the most overrated movie of last year), he feels as if he has the need to cut from scene to scene to scene to scene to scene to scene. I realize a lot is happening in the movie, but there is no need to cut out of one scene, show a 20 second scene that is somewhat unrelated, and go back to the scene you were just on. It confuses people, especially those who havent read the book, and in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo it got absolutely ridiculous. There is a lot to be said for a long-sprawling scene. Im not talking about Reservoir Dogs here, but at least let a scene play out a bit before you switch it to two other ones. 

You can bet that, despite this being an intimate scene, Fincher cuts
away in like 3...2...1

Also, a word of warning to those who are going to see the movie without a basic knowledge: it is HEAVY stuff. It is certainly not for kids and certainly not for the faint of heart. There is rape, drugs, sex, violence, sadism, etc. So in other words, if you are anything like my mother, DO NOT go and see this movie. You will not enjoy it and you will completely miss the point of the movie because of the more extreme segments. And when I say extreme, they are certainly hard to watch.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is a phenomenal piece of film making due largely to the vision of its director, the story by the late Stieg Larson, and the perfect portrayals of its two main characters by Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara. If you can handle the material, go see it, especially if you have read the book. If you havent read the book, I suggest that you read it now, and if you cant do that then you go with someone that has. 

And for God's sake dont see this with your parents. Talk about awkward.

Pros:

• Fantastic acting by the whole cast, including Daniel Craig. Rooney Mara knocks it out of the part and is a real-life Lisbeth Salander
• Great story with plenty of twists and turns
• The ending takes a while to tie up loose ends, but Fincher sets up the rest of the series really well in the last half-hour
• Great cinematography and filming. Really captures the doom and gloom of a Swedish winter that is the main setting for the books
• Soundtrack is fantastic and every song fits perfectly with what is happening on screen
• Done tastefully, which, if you know the material, is very hard to do. Intense scenes are hard to watch, but there are also genuine scenes that let you see how these characters become attached to one another
• There are clearly changes and omissions from the movie to the book and I noticed a few of them. But in this case, I agree with them that they were not necessary and applaud the writers for knowing when to cut stuff

Cons:

• David Fincher needs to calm the hell down with his editing and ADD scene style. It makes for a break-neck speed yes, but it also detracts from the story and annoys the audience who is trying to soak in every detail
• If you havent read the books, it will be a confusing movie for a while. This isn't helped by Fincher's editing style and the fact that some lines are mumbled at the beginning so you arent quite sure what the character just said

WTF:

• Either the best use or the worst use of an Enya song in a movie ever. It took me so much by surprise that I had to add a new category for it. 

Rath's Review Score: 8.5/10