The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Review

Rating: 10/10 (22 January 2012)

The Swedish original of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Dir. David Fincher, 2011), Män som hatar kvinnor (Dir. Niels Arden Oplev, 2009), methodically followed the plot created by Stieg Larsson to almost the exact word. This Hollywood remake did choose to leave out a few scenes that had been included within the original, but with the film already stretching at 2 hours 45 minutes I can forgive Fincher, as a fan of the novel, for cutting out some of the final scenes from the film.
The most unusual and off-putting part about the whole film were the opening titles. They used a very James Bond-esc animation style where both Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) and Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) are born from oil. Thankfully, the heavy metal soundtrack accompanying the animation appeared to be the sort of music the character of Lisbeth would enjoy. My opinion of the film was redeemed, as for a brief second I had feared that Hollywood producers had taken control of the film and created an action filled mystery; this was not the case.
Every single actor within The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo created individuals so similar to my imagination of the characters within Larsson's book that the film almost became a visual playback of my mind when reading the novel. Daniel Craig played an excellent Mikael Blomkvist but was unfortunately the only person who wasn't seemingly putting on a Swedish accent. The lack of accent wasn't that noticeable but it did make me raise questions as to Mikael Blomkvist's origin. Rooney Mara, in her protagonist debut, portrayed the girl with the dragon tattoo with such charisma that any problems I'd had with Daniel Craig's character were forgotten while she was on screen. David Fincher doesn't always produce films of a high standard, but this one is one of his greats. This movie has unusual protagonists, detestable villains and a mystery that keeps people who haven't read the book gripped till the end.
The only warning I have for anyone watching this film who knows nothing about it is that it does include multiple uncomfortable scenes where at least one of the protagonists finds themselves in a situation which is difficult to watch. These said scenes are extremely well edited in Fincher's version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. They are abridged in such a way to make any of the grotesque scenes within the film more foreboding and uncomfortable. As an example, the first one of these scenes cuts between Lisbeth and her guardian in his bedroom, and a slow backwards zoom away from the door and down the corridor, making the scene more ominous than it already was.
Finally, the film does extend to 2 hours and 45 minutes. For someone who enjoyed the novel it wasn't quite long enough as the final scenes within Australia have been cut to reduce time. But, I have been told, that for someone fresh to the franchise the film does last too long, as after the main plot has ended the film stretches on for 20 minutes into a detailed conclusion, similar to the book.
In conclusion, this film was definitely better than the Swedish original as it had more personality, fantastic editing and a strong cast. Many will question whether there was a need for a Hollywood remake at all; and while the answer is no, I still believe that when watching this film it provides a more Swedish vibe than the Swedish one itself. The intoxicating acting of Rooney Mara keeps one engaged throughout the whole film, and despite the accent, this film has widened my eyes to the acting ability of Daniel Craig.