Only two years after the Swedish adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s international best-seller, David Fincher has brought his take on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo to the silver screen.  With little-known Rooney Mara cast in the role that made Noomi Rapace a break-out sensation and Daniel Craig starring opposite, Fincher has a sizable task in tackling a story loved in both its written and prior celluloid form.  While the film is, on a whole, more faithful to Larsson’s vision, it never reaches the point that truly justifies this too-soon remake.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: experience the gift of anal rape 26 December in the UK

Craig is Mikael Blomkvist, the shamed journalist who hands over the reins of his Millennium magazine to his editor and lover Erika Berger (Robin Wright).  In financial ruin, Blomkvist is hired by retired industrial magnate Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer, again excelling as a frail patriarch) to investigate the murder of his niece.  Sequestered in a charmless cottage on the family’s island, 4 hours outside of Stockholm, Blomkvist studies the family members, the case files and eventually requires the expertise of computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Mara), who had herself investigated Blomkvist for Vanger.  Though The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’s main thrust is a classic whodunit, the character development of Salander is essential in not only establishing her moral code, but in setting up the other 2/3 of the Millennium trilogy.  Fincher balances this well, though Dragon Tattoo newcomers may be somewhat baffled by references to her past which portray her in a less than favourable light.  While the mystery is Blomkvist’s to solve, the film is Mara’s to steal and she does so with vigour and a contempt that bubbles beneath the surface throughout,  rising fiercely at all the right times.
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