Well, the cinematography is better...

Rating: 3/10 (2 April 2013)

Because I consider the Swedish version of Girl...to be a classic on the level of The Maltese Falcon, I avoided the English language version when it was in the theaters. (In reality, the original version may be a better adaptation. John Huston had a Dashiel Hammet book to work from. Steig Larsson's work is transcendentally awful, on a level not even the purple pronouncements of The Bridges of Madison County descended to.) However, late one empty night, the American version showed up on cable and I decided to watch it. It's not bad, only slack and uninspired. The screenwriter and director hewed somewhat closer to the book but to no obvious purpose. And there are at least 4 narrative choices (spoiler alerts won't cover them, I'm afraid. You'll have to trust me--they didn't work.) that damaged the momentum of the film and the chemistry of the two main actors. And finally, David Fincher wasn't able to find an actress to match the ferocity, killer grace and awkward beauty of Noomi Rapace. Rooney Mara is a fine actress (catch her in Soderbergh's Side Effects.). But she's simply too faceless for as vivid a presence as Lisabeth Salander. She's like the 3rd Goth girl at the table, pale and unremarkable. Daniel Craig does a fine job as her partner. But the other actor choices are uninspired if professionally handled. It would have been better if Fincher and co. had done a wholly revised version, set in the US or England with different villains (imagine an African American Salander and the KKK, for example) rather than this dull work.