A dark, well-acted Fincher showcase

Rating: 9/10 (30 December 2011)

Shortly before his death, Steig Larsson published a series of books that would become surprise hits. The first of these books was The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, a story that followed defamed journalist Mikael Blomkvist who hopes to save face by publishing a memoir uncovering events within the Vanger family. What starts as a journalistic investigation culminates into a deep interest and involvement in the tangled web that is the Vanger family.
With the help of brilliant but very unconventional Lisbeth Salander, the two use computer hacking codes, public records, and informal interviews to get to the bottom of the Vanger crises, specifically the alleged murder of young Harriet.
Shortly after the books were released, Swedish films were created starring Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist. The films were quite successful in their production home of Sweden, and as a result, American viewers took note, particularly David Fincher who sought to create an American version of the Swedish story, not a remake of the Swedish films but another retelling of the novel. The production was underway and the casting proccess was quite intense. Fincher saw every under-30 actress in Hollywood from Scarlett Johannson to Carey Mulligan, but he ultimately settled on an unknown named Rooney Mara.
Rooney Mara is the glue that holds the film together. Physically, her transformation from young New England prep to disaffected punk was startling. The already thin Mara lost weight, pierced several areas of her body, dyed and cut her hair, and bleached her eyebrows. She was truly shedding a new skin as an actress, and as a result, her performance was not only startling in terms of appearance but in overall performance as well. There is something intriguing about a character who is incredibly single-minded and abrasive, yet vurnerable. Mara herself described Salander not as an "open wound" but instead "scar tissue," and performance more than pays off. She earned her Golden Globe nomination and I truly think she is deserving of the win.
Daniel Craig gives a chillingly good performance as well. My opinions of Craig have waxed and waned over the years. I've never been a fan of his Bond, but I do think that his film choices, for the most part, have really highlighted his strengths. He brings an incredible amount of weight to the role of a defamed reporter who just wants to gain back his credibility. The character is more obviously sympathetic, at times seeming fragile. He's a far cry from the take-no-prisoners characters Craig has portrayed in the past, and as such, I think it's one of his finest.
The other performance that I think may either match or surpass Mara's in the performance of Stellan Skarsgård as Martin Vanger. He is the antagonist of the story but handles the role in a very subtle way. When we meet Vanger, he seems kind and hospitable, very interest in helping Blomkvist. However, as we start to peel back the layers of the character we realize the pile of skeletons in his closet and his treachery as well as his guilt. I regard Skarsågard as a rather underrated actor and I'm glad to see him getting more and more work in Hollywood.
The pacing is handled perfectly. At 158 minutes the film takes time to develop the characters. The action sequences are handled perfectly, and the exposition is essential without lagging. Fincher is proving to be a master of handling difficult subject matter delicately while exposing it for the striking terror that it is.
My one complaint is not that the pacing was slow, but that it was so chockful of information that it almost seemed rushed at times. The literature is very meaty so I almost felt that it would have been better served as a mini-series than a feature film. However, those are just nitpicks of an otherwise excellent film. If you are interested in dark, compelling, visceral, uncomfortable, and superbly-acted films, this will be your bread and butter.