The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Rating: 8/10 (19 December 2012)

There have been occasions where I've seen an English language remake based on an original foreign film version and liked it just as much as the original, these include The Ring and Let Me In (Let the Right One In), I was surprised to see this one directed by David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club, The Social Network) in the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die book rather than the original, but I love both equally. Basically, set in Stockholm, Sweden, co-owner of Millennium magazine, journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) has ruined his reputation losing a libel court case against corrupt businessman Hans-Erik Wennerström (Ulf Friberg), but he is given a special assignment by business magnate Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer). The rich old man wants Blomkvist to pick up the investigation of his missing grand-niece Harriet who disappeared forty years ago and may have been murdered, he only agrees to investigate because Vanger worked alongside Wennerström and has damning evidence that may help him in court. Meanwhile investigating Blomkvist is brilliant but damaged researcher and computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Oscar and Golden Globe nominated Rooney Mara, from the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street), also she has mental incompetency and is therefore under state legal guardianship, lawyer Nils Bjurman (Yorick van Wageningen) is appointed to be her guardian after the previous had a stroke. Bjurman abuses his authority and has her perform sexual favours for him to get money or whatever, starting with blowjobs and then he violent rapes her, but he didn't realise she had a secret camera filming it, and next day she returns to tazer him, tie him up, rape him with a dildo, and blackmails him to give her good progress reports and give her control of her money, and to make sure he remembers she tattoos the words "I am a rapist pig". Going through a notebook from Vanger, Blomkvist is trying to decipher written names and numbers in a notebook, his daughter identifies them as Bible references, and to help him with his research Vanger's lawyer Dirch Frode (Steven Berkoff) recommends him to see Salander who he knows is researching him. With her computer skills she finds a connection between a series of murders of young women killed between 1947 and 1967 and the way that they were killed, the Bible references seem to be clues as to how the victims will be killed, and during their time together Salander and Bromkvist become lovers, she is unaware he is already lovers with Erika Berger (Robin Wright). Harriet's brother and operational head of the Vanger empire Martin Vanger (Stellan Skarsgård) is identified by Henrik's brother Harald (Per Myrberg) as a possible suspect, and doing her research Salander uncovers that his deceased father Gottfried and him did indeed commit the murders. Trying to get more clues Blomkvist breaks into Martin's house, but he is caught out trying to get away unnoticed and Martin chains him up, and attempts to kill him using a bag for suffocation and is about to stab him, but Salander arrives in time to stop this and chase Martin out, until they speed on the road, Martin crashes his car due to the icy road, and he dies when it blows up. Before he died Martin did admit to the other murders, but not to killing Harriet, so Blomkvist is nursed back to health by Salander, and in bed she admits that at twelve years old she tried to kill her father, and recovered he goes to see Harriet's sister Anita (Joely Richardson) because he is convinced she is still alive and her sister would know where she is. After waiting some time for Anita to contact Harriet and following her movements, Blomkvist correctly deduces that Anita is actually Harriet herself, she explains that she changed her identity and ran away because her father and brother sexually abused her for years, and she saw Martin kill their father in self-defence, the real Anita smuggled her away, after years however she tearfully returns to Sweden and reunites with her grand-uncle Henrik. The rich old man keeps his promise and give the journalist the evidence he wanted Wennerström, but it turns out to be useless, but Salander on the computer proves the businessman has been doing wrong, and Millennium publishes the article about him that ruins him and forces him to leave the country, she also hacks into all his accounts, and travels in disguise, to transfer, into various accounts, the sum of 2 billion Euros. The end sees Wennerström found murdered, Salander tells her guardian she is in love with Blomkvist, but before she can give him a Christmas present she spots him with Erika, and heartbroken she throws away the present and rides away on her motorbike somewhere. Also starring Geraldine James as Cecilia Vanger, Goran Visnjic as Dragan Armansky, The Secret of Crickley Hall's Donald Sumpter as Detective Inspector Gustaf Morell, Tony Way as Plague, EastEnders' Martin Jarvis as Birger Vanger and Alan Dale as Detective Isaksson. Craig gives a good cool performance as the disgraced journalist given an assignment, Mara is just as fascinating and engaging as Noomi Rapace was with her feisty, clever and sometimes dangerous attitude, and the supporting cast members, including Skarsgård and Plummer do their parts really well also. The direction by Fincher is well paced, the story remains pretty much the same as the original Swedish version, but with a couple of new additions in terms of action, it does not feel like you are watching the same film, it is a brilliantly watchable crime thriller. It won the Oscar for Best Film Editing, and it was nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing, it was nominated the BAFTAs for Best Cinematography and Best Original Music for Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Original Score. Very good!