A Remarkable Remake

Rating: 9/10 (24 December 2011)

The novel & the Swedish movie are not great by any standards (they are pretty damn good), but the "Girl", Lisbeth Salander & Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth are great anti-heroines.
I'm not surprised that David Fincher made a better movie than the original. Fincher is at the top of his game here. "The Social Network", "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" & "Se7en" are better movies because the source material is better.
The shock here is Rooney Mara as Salander. Rapace was electric as Salander in all 3 movies made from the Millennium trilogy. Mara is slightly better. In either incarnation you cannot tear your eyes away from the screen when Salander appears, but there something about Mara's work that runs a bit deeper than Rapace's & I'll have to see this film again to get a better handle on that.
Another shock is that this "Americanized" version is a harder "R" than the Euro version. This ain't a date movie.
Of course Daniel Craig is perfect as Blomkvist. Christopher Plummer is perfect as Vanger. Stellan Stelsgard (sic) briefly channels Joe Doe in a key scene. Steven Zallian's is more true to the novel despite a non-important tweak of the ending.
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross's music is mesmerizing meriting a 2nd Oscar for them. Jeff Cronenweth's cinematography is worthy of the best of his late father's work. The opening title sequence is sick, twisted & brilliant with Karen O's ferocious singing charging it.
The movie flags a bit in the last 15 minutes, but then ends with a bittersweet & deeply felt sigh.
This is very rough stuff meant only for the serious film lover who make up all of Fincher's admirers.