I wanted to enjoy this more than I did

Rating: 5/10 (30 December 2011)

I have read the Millennium books and seen a couple of reviews saying the film was quite different to the books. Although there are a couple of plot changes these are quite minor and I thought the film was pretty faithful to the book. The slight problem you have when you read the book that a film is based on is that you have already imagined what the characters and scenes should look like. You therefore can't help but go through a check-list as you watch the film.
In terms of the lead actors there's no doubt that Rooney Mara is excellent playing the role of Lisbeth. She has had a very traumatic upbringing which will be expanded upon in the next couple of films. Daniel Craig is reasonable as Mikael and the supporting cast are also reasonable. There are some very difficult passages in the book and true to form Fincher hasn't shied away from these in the film. I noticed a few people in the audience were a little uncomfortable with some of the graphic sex scenes. The overall tone of the film is very monotone/dark and there's no doubt that this isn't accidental.
Overall I quite enjoyed the film, but couldn't help but think that I should have enjoyed it more. The film would have been better if they cut out 20 minutes or so during editing. The ending in particular was a little bit weak.