David Fincher crafts yet another masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (20 December 2011)

Right from the start of this films opening titles, I was taken back to when I had first watched 'Fight Club'. The opening title sequence for this film was even more exhilarating to watch than that of the one opening for Fight Club. The rest of the film was a journey into the greatness that has made Fincher films almost a household name by now.
It is easy to say that this was better than the Swedish version of this film, and partly thanks to the performance by Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander. I can't say that I have ever been more attracted to a character on film than in this one. Even though, she is quite the bad-ass and about as tomboy as they come, I couldn't help but be engaged by every scene she was in.
On another note, this is not an easy film to watch. It does contain a scene of rape and a couple acts of sexual assault on top of that. With all these coming together to form something almost as disturbing as the scene from the lesser know film by Gaspar Noe 'Irreversible'.
Everything is perfectly shot here as well, and really does have the 'David Fincher' touch, although, this film felt about the least Hollywood-ised of all his pictures. Fans of the Swedish Trilogy will not be let down here. This is about as intense as crime thrillers get, and for those who call this a remake, for them, this is without a doubt the best remake I think I have seen on screen. Nothing falls into place like you think it will, and as the film ends, I felt a knot in my stomach, and wished I could know the character Lisbeth in real life.
The score here done by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is again Oscar worthy after winning last year for their work on Finchers other film, 'The Social Network'. It does have similar tones here, but all in all comes out totally fresh in every scene.
Overall, this is easily one of the best films of the year. This could have also been easily predicted coming from me, considering my likeness for David Fincher films. Fincher was responsible for me partly coming to love for films back in 1999 with his film 'Fight Club', which took 1/3 of the reason why I came to love movies in the first place (also in there, Stanley Kubricks 'Eyes Wide Shut', and Sam Mendes', 'American Beauty' —all from 1999) and this film shows that Fincher is indeed one of the best filmmakers in the business today.