Not as simple as it might appear

Rating: 6/10 (1 January 2012)

I have now seen both films but haven't read the books. It would be so easy to dismiss the US film with caustic comments about Hollywood redoing international films for the worse, but I think this is more complex than that.
The first film had flaws, maybe not of pace but of character development. This version does provide some exposition of the principles and their behaviour. But the Swedish film tells the plot better and more intensely. I remember the scenes revealing the murders elsewhere in Sweden, far better in the original rather than Fincher's which were almost impressionistic.
I liked the development of Lisbeth in the final scene. It is irrelevant whether it is accurate with the books because in context it is more reasonable that Lisbeth feels something for Mikael because he doesn't demand anything of her...and entirely plausible when she reacts by throwing the leather jacket away and driving off.
Fincher's film is more beautifully shot for sure. But was that worth the enormous budget and is that not the greater travesty, that the studios and the directors believe that we need sumptuous visual spectacle to follow an original disturbing story? I appreciate both visual presentation and challenging story line and plot development, but one very rarely gets it....because a true original yet disturbing story would not usually attract such a large budget.
Go see this film it's not perfect but if you are so dumb you can't watch sub titles then this film might just shake you out of your intellectual torpor