Fincher is Perfect for this Adaptation

Rating: 9/10 (1 July 2012)

Being a major fan of David Fincher, I was determined to see this film from the first time I saw the trailer. I had no knowledge of the novel it was based on and I was only vaguely aware that there had been a Swedish version of the same story released a few years prior. All I knew was that Fincher hadn't let me down (I don't quite count ALIEN 3), and the trailer blew me away: moody and high contrast, lightning-fast pacing set against the tune of Karen O's cover of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song", and the film was marketed as the "feel bad movie of Christmas". I was sold. Based on the international bestseller from Swedish author Stieg Larsson, the movie opens with journalist Mikael Blomkvist disgraced in court when he's found guilty of libel against business mogul Hans-Erik Wennerström. With his journalism career in jeopardy and his magazine on the verge of collapse, Blomkvist is approached by the wealthy Henrik Vanger to solve a forty-year-old mystery. Vanger's niece Harriet disappeared from their home an island in Hedestad during a family gathering when she was sixteen-years-old. Vanger's family consists of former Nazis, bullies, and businessmen, and it is Vanger's belief that one of them killed Harriet. Unfortunately, the case has been cold for many years and Blomkvist struggles to find a new angle. He enlists the aid of Lisbeth Salander, a social outcast with a torturous past and elite tech skills. Together, Blomkvist and Lisbeth find themselves hunting a serial murderer from nearly half a century ago.
I loved this movie when I first saw it in theaters in 2011 and I probably should have commented on it then, as I have since overdosed on the Millennium trilogy. I have seen all three of the original Swedish versions of the films and read all three novels, so at least I feel I've been exposed to each version enough to form reasonable opinions. And my opinion is this: Fincher's film is the best version of the novel. Not that the original wasn't really good, I just feel Fincher has a better talent for visual storytelling. Whereas the Swedish version was shot very clean and felt as if it was shot as a cable movie, Fincher's is all about the style. The Swedish winter is harsh and bleak, and the colors are toned down so the whole movie has an excellent contrast that fits the dark tones of the story. Because THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO is an incredibly dark tale, regardless of which version you see/read. Violence, rape, incest, betrayal, murder, and tortureFincher wasn't kidding when he advertised it as a "feel bad movie". His movie doesn't feel like a television drama; his feels like a living nightmare at times. Fincher has proved he's a master of visual tone (see SE7EN, FIGHT CLUB, etc) and this movie was perfect for him. I do agree though that it might have been a little presumptuous for Fincher and Columbia/MGM to remake a movie a mere two years after it was released merely because it was a foreign film and, you know, Americans don't want to read their movies.
Fincher and screenwriter Steven Zaillian did just as well with the source material, keeping incredibly close to the novel and cutting only portions of the story that wouldn't be missed. I wish they had included the stronger religious undertones to the original murders because I feel Fincher could have done it well, but I understand why a lot of elements were cut. The movie already clocks in around two and a half hours, and it can feel it's length at times (especially towards the middle of the film), but it never grinds to a halt. The end of the movie goes on a bit long but there are a lot of loose ends to tie up in the story. Fincher has also done an excellent job on recasting the movie, with both Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara pitch- perfect in their roles as Blomkvist and Salander. Major respect to Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace, because they did great work on the original, but I thought Craig and Mara were perfect here. With a supporting cast including Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgård, and Joely Richardson, there is a lot of great talent at work here. This movie isn't for the faint- hearted but any Fincher fan knows what to expect from this movie, and he delivers. I'm sure even most Millennium purists will agree, regardless of which version they enjoyed better, Fincher's movie is a great adaptation.