was their any need for a American version?

Rating: 5/10 (4 June 2012)

im currently reading the girl with the dragon tattoo and its not for a faint of heart. the Swedish version got me into the series by accident. i saw it at a cinema without knowing what it was about but by its poster. i was shocked and entertained by a well written story and the message of violence against women. Lisbeth was a scary but interesting character to watch. and then moments after the last film was released i heard of a American version being done. a thought came into my head 'what already? are Hollywood this out of ideas that they need to do this?' since their already remaking batman and a ton of other films that arnt that old or are still ongoing franchises. but i saw at the cinima and said to myself. 'please lord, make this be good' and my prayer was answered and not at the same time.
this is pretty much the same film as the Swedish version just with better camera work. i like Rooney's vision of Slander, she made her more alien and less of a human being and it shows on camera, in the parts were their should be pure emotions coming though she covers them up with this weird childlike expression. its hard to describe but i think she did a good job as the computer hacker.
daniel craig for me doesn't work as Mikael. he does a good job at being all dark and broody. but his face in this is like hes been in a scrap and he still got his body of james bond, so its hard to take him seriously as a journalist. they could have cast anyone and it had to be james bond. in fact the advertisement seems to rely on this. the poster looks like 007 movie and the title credits are like that of a james bond opening as well. its a really cheap way to get people into the seats.
its a decent attempt to relaunch the series for a new audience but the fact of the matter is it has been released way too soon for it to be good, it takes a few scenes from the next book and doesn't do enough to stand out from its superior. if you haven't seen the original Swedish version you might enjoy it, but if you have this will seem like a waste of time and talent