The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (9/10)

by Tony Medley

Run time 158 minutes.

Not for children.

So the big question is, why do a remake of a film that came out just last year? The answer? Money. The facts are stark. While the Swedish original collected over $94 million worldwide, it only collected a little over $10 million in the United States (translating to less than 1 million viewers). The money guys looked at this and started counting up the money they could make with an American remake out of Stieg Larsson's wildly successful books. Lots of Americans are put off by over two and a half hours of reading subtitles.

While David Fincher ably directs this thriller, it is clearly not up to the Swedish original, even though Rooney Mara admirably channels Noomi Rapace (the protagonist in the Swedish film), and Daniel Craig gives his best performance yet, abetted by award-quality background music by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross that sets the tone throughout.

Good as Mara is, she's no Rapace. And there was really no reason not to allow Noomi to reprise her role in the American version, since she speaks perfect English, as evidenced by her role in the abysmal Sherlock Holmes film that was just released. For some reason, Mara doesn't capture the sympathy that Rapace created for her character. Even so, Mara's interpretation is adequate to create the tension in what is basically a whodunnit.

Adding to the quality of the film are the outstanding performances by Christopher Plummer and Stellan Skarsgård. Because all four principals give such wonderful performances, and there is rarely a scene when one isn't onscreen, this is a long film that never lags.

As for the plot, Plummer hires Craig to find his long lost niece, who disappeared one day in 1966. Craig hires Mara, a hotshot internet researcher, to help him as he delves deeper and deeper into the convoluted history of Plummer's dysfunctional family.

The opening titles constitute the worst part of the film. They are, in a word, nonsensical. They are off-putting and have nothing to do with the film that follows. What were they thinking? Why start a movie with something that might lose the audience immediately?

The other weakness of the film is the first hour where Mara doesn't establish much of a sympathetic reaction to her bizarre character, probably because Fincher leaves a lot of her background out of the story, background that is explained more explicitly in both the book and the Swedish version. When she finally links up with Craig after about an hour, the film picks up considerably.

Since very few Americans actually saw the Swedish film (which should remain as the authentic film interpretation of the books by those who read them and see both film versions), this version can stand on its own. Without knowledge of the prior version with which to compare this, most audiences should find this satisfying. Even though I've seen all three films and read two of the books, including the first upon which this is based, I still found Fincher's film interesting and tense, despite the fact that the sex and violence are considerably toned down from the Swedish originals.