Wasted potential

Rating: 3/10 (24 December 2011)

For those of you who have been out of the loop re the Millennium series recently, it was announced as far back as January 2010 that Fincher would be attached to the American Dragon Tattoo film. This sparked a mixed reaction, from people who even love Fincher like there's no tomorrow. Well, it looks like people are still high off their wankery over The Social Network, another mediocre and spectacularly overrated movie. So it seems obvious the circle jerk would continue in the wake of the recent Dragon Tattoo adaptation.
Problem is, there seems to be Two David Finchers. The one who made amazing movies Like Se7en, The Game, Fight Club, Panic Room and The Zodiac. Then there's the Fincher who gave us the horrid Benjamin Button, the overrated above mentioned Social Network, and now this.
Thing is, I for one wasn't too opposed the idea of an English language adaptation. I mean, sure it wouldn't be as authentic as the original Swedish version, nor the book. But it could still work. Craig still had the face and Mara has very striking facial features. Reznor has a unique way of scoring a film, and Fincher has a great eye for a shot, hell, he practically made a whole career our of that kind of thing.
Unfortunately, the movie is nowhere near as interesting as the Swedish movie. And here's why.
The Swedish movie does a good job at staying close to the source material, however, it doesn't just mindlessly piggyback off of the source material- it perfectly balanced everything out. Those who haven't read the book would be able to follow it and find it entertaining. It took its time too- it had a nice, steady, easy going pace. It was 2.5 hours, but the movie was so interesting, it went by fast and you couldn't tell.
The Yank version is pretty much an exact adaptation of the book, yes. Pretty much 98% of the book was in the movie. That's NOT a good thing; to me it came off as nothing more than desperate to please the fans. It was like Zallian said "Alright, we have to mindlessly piggyback the book. I'm super scared of pissing the fans off, and so let's not edit anything down. There is no such thing as 'What may work on page doesn't necessarily work on film.'". Except... there is.
Let me explain why.
Niels' film showed RESTRAINT and SUBTLETY, the two things this film lacked. It focused more on the characters than every single tiny little plot device of the book. This film felt rushed and blew its way through everything. For example, the opening scene. In Niels' film, it's very powerful. The way he looks at the plant then breaks down is simply... stunning. Here? We got a half assed phone call and a shot of the plant.
The opening credits, however, are class. Pointless, overly flashy and a bit gimmicky? Yes, but class, and the images fit very nicely over the Immigrant Song. I loved the shout outs to the sequels too.
Unfortunately it stops there, the writer Zallian is so obsessed with capturing every event that he senselessly skips over CHARACTER DETAILS!!!!! We get no hint to the fact that Lisbeth is possibly autistic. Instead we get a scenery chewing girl who we want to punch in the face every time we see her. The whole libel thing goes over our heads completely too.
And that's just the beginning.
Several of the scenes are over before they even begin. It's frustrating. The rape scene was underwhelming even. In the book it was a disturbing and powerful scene. Here it's just a "lol wut" moment.
As for the acting. Noomi Rapace simply cannot be replaced. She played Lisbeth exactly how the books describe her. Tough as nails, arrogant, and dangerous to herself, but with an air of special childlike innocence. Mara? She confuses good acting for chewing the scenery. She always glares and says every line like someone asked her the square root of an insanely large number. Nyqvist not only played Blomkvist just like Larsson wrote him, but he also LOOKED like the book described. Here, Craig just seems to be stuck in his Bond phase. Nothing special whatsoever.
Also, for parts 2 and 3, someone needs to hire a better dialect coach. I lost count of all the times they went from American to British to a Europeanoid accent. What a joke.
I wish I could recommend this, but it's a big mess. Avoid if you haven't watched the Swedish and just watch that instead.
Fincher, thou hast ruined Lisbeth Salander for me.