Starring: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer and Stellan Skarsgård
Directed By: David Fincher
Screenplay By: Steven Zaillian
Based on the Novel By: Stieg Larsson
Produced By: Scott Rudin
Distributor: Sony Pictures Entertainment
Rating: R
Running Time: 158 minutes
Website: dragontattoo.com
Budget: $100 million (estimated)
Genre: Drama / Thriller
Release Date: December 20, 2011
Director David Fincher seemed ideally suited to handle the highly anticipated American adaptation of Steig Larsson’s best-selling novel, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” about a reporter and a computer hacker’s obsessive investigation into a series of Biblically-inspired murders. Fincher’s Se7en established his knack for serial killer stories. Zodiac explored the nature of obsession while deftly communicating dense amounts of information. And in The Social Network, Fincher found a way to turn people typing on keyboards into compelling drama.
Fincher’s version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo explodes onto the screen with a hypnotic, impressionist opening credits sequence set to the pulsing rhythms of Trent Reznor’s take on the Led Zepplin classic “Immigrant Song.” Pitch black ink oozes over writhing bodies before turning to a sticky tar whose shiny black tendrils are revealed to be computer cables. It is an exceptionally cinematic way to kick off the film, but its intensity immediately evaporates as Fincher begins the tedium of unpacking nearly 700 pages worth of characters and backstory before getting to the good stuff.
Daniel Craig (Cowboys and Aliens) plays a magazine reporter ruined by a recent libel lawsuit. Broke and disgraced, he accepts the offer of eccentric millionaire Christopher Plummer (Beginners) to stay at his family’s secluded Swedish island estate and investigate the decades-old murder of his great-niece Harriet. Under the cover of ghostwriting Plummer’s memoirs, Craig explores the tiny island, interviewing each member of the highly-dysfunctional family and reviewing the few available clues.
When he discovers new evidence that connects Harriet’s disappearance to a serial killer, Craig enlists the aid of Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara, The Social Network), a brilliant young computer hacker with a fondness for motorcycles, piercings and tattoos. Living for more than a decade in questionable foster homes under state scrutiny, Salander is a damaged woman living a life of social self-quarantine. After avenging her own brutal sexual assault, she revels in Craig’s opportunity to punish a killer of women, crisscrossing Sweden on her hand-crafted Harley in unwavering pursuit of the facts.
Rooney Mara is magnetic as the completely singular Salander. Her performance extends far beyond the character’s bizarre, alien appearance, manifesting in her choices of body language, movement and speech. Her Salander is a force of nature, a fiercely independent woman capable of dishing out righteous vengeance when warranted. If she is a social outsider, it is because she understands society too well and has chosen to live by her own code. There is a reason this was the most coveted role in Hollywood for years, and Mara proves her worthiness in every scene.
Fincher nails the proper bleak, chilled tone throughout the film, and handles its more intense (read: sexually violent) sequences with technical skill and grace. But it takes a good 25 minutes before he finally conquers a mountain of exposition and the movie starts to live up to its promise. After a fitting climax and denouement, the film meanders for another 15 to 20 minutes, intent on wrapping up a series of loose threads that have no bearing on the film’s central storyline.
The same problem plagues any screen adaptation of a popular work: the film either remains slavishly faithful to the source material and becomes unwieldy or risks being its own work and offending its built-in fanbase. With The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Fincher attempts to split the difference. The result is a lumbering but entertaining film that will probably leave diehard fans politely disappointed.
3.5 Stars (out of 5)
