Labyrinthine Mystery With An Unattractive Heroine

Rating: Null/10 (13 April 2012)

'Dragon Tattoo' is an excellent mystery movie with an absorbing storyline. I always liked mysteries with a time lapse involved, and in this one the murder was committed in the 60's. The time frame, however is contemporary Sweden and has an interesting premise; it was committed on an island connected to the mainland by a bridge, but which was blocked at the time of the murder by a car crash - no one got off the island, no one got on.
Daniel Craig is investigating at the behest of Christopher Plummer, the patriarch of the family, who wants the answer before it is too late as he is elderly. Rooney Mara is Craig's assistant, a semi-autistic social cripple with a Goth look. Plummer adds immeasurable stature to the film and Mara has obviously worked hard to create an off-beat character and succeeds too well. I thought her characterization was off-putting and couldn't work up much sympathy for her, and that she detracted from the story, which as mentioned was first-rate.
I didn't read the book or see the Swedish version of the film, but this picture was too long, with gratuitous scenes of the stars in coitus, and efforts to depict Mara's character as beset with troubles. Also, there is a back-story of a libel suit against Craig, which some people might find interesting (I didn't). I just felt it could have been cut down to a better, shorter version with additional editing, but that's just me. In movies I don't think that more is better. If they make movie versions of the other two books they should de-emphasize 'THE GIRL' stuff and just go with the mysteries, as this one was really very good.