By Joe Bendel. For a while, Lisbeth Salander was like Scarlett O’Hara with a nose ring. Every actress claiming to be under thirty who was not in contention for the role should have fired her agent. Eventually Rooney Mara was chosen to follow in Noomi Rapace’s footsteps. It was one of several odd choices that produced David Fincher’s surprisingly straight forward remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (trailer here), which opened Tuesday in New York (a few hours earlier than first announced).
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Lisbeth Salander is a difficult woman to get to know. However, the hacker for hire can find out all there is to know about anyone else—for a price, of course. Her latest target she actually finds sort of interesting: Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist just found guilty of libeling a controversial businessman. Based on Salander’s vetting, Blomkvist has been hired by retired industrialist Henrik Vanger to solve the decades old disappearance of his favorite niece Harriet.
Still grieving the loss of the teen-aged girl, the old Vanger finds little comfort from the rest of his ghoulish clan, many of whom were (and continue to be) open National Socialist sympathizers. With a large, ugly family full of suspects to check out, Blomkvist has his work cut out for him, but he will find an unlikely ally in Salander, once she has dealt (severely) with some of her own personal issues.
As fans of the series already know, Blomkvist and Salander soon suspect the disappearance of the Vanger niece is part of a hitherto undetected pattern of serial killings. Indeed, anyone who has seen Niels Arden Oplev’s Swedish Tattoo will find no surprises in Fincher’s remake. All the villains and shocking revelations remain exactly the same.
Frankly, Fincher’s approach to the material is nearly identical as well, delving into lurid family secrets to find grisly thrills. Nor does he shy away from the forerunner film’s two infamous inter-related scenes involving Salander and her so-called legal guardian. Yet, despite the cool dark vibe, Tattoo is not particularly Fincheresque. Compared to Fight Club and even The Social Network, it is far more conventional than auterist.
In terms of casting, Daniel Craig is a perfect fit for Blomkvist, looking like the slightly younger and more attractive brother of his Swedish predecessor, Michael Nyqvist. He is very convincing as the world weary journalistic everyman with an edge. In contrast, Rooney Mara is impossible to buy into as Salander. To put it bluntly, she looks like a horrendously made-up little girl rather than a grown woman, which might be in keeping with the source novels, but simply does not work on-screen, especially in her more harrowing scenes.
If you are going to remake one of the Salander films, Tattoo is the one to do. It features the most intriguing mystery that best stands alone. Wisely, Steven Zaillian’s screenplay downplays Blomkvist’s leftist ideology, but it also waters down the subplot involving Sweden’s Nazi-sympathizing past, which gave Oplev’s version some of its distinctive seasoning. Still, when Blomkvist and Salander’s investigation starts humming along, it is easy to get caught up in the film’s energy.
Fincher’s Tattoo is certainly a professionally crafted film. Cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth gives the film an icy, grey look that perfectly represents Sweden. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s electro-industrial-ambient score is also eerily effective, largely establishing an independent identity for the film by itself. Still, considering how closely this Tattoo parallels the original, one wonders why they bothered to remake it. Critically miscast in a key role, Fincher’s Tattoo is a watchable but unnecessary remake. An acceptable compromise film during the holiday season but not worth standing in long lines for, Tattoo opened Tuesday in New York at the AMC Empire.
Posted on December 22nd, 2011 at 11:18am.
Your review is dead on. Although in the portrayal of Mikael Blomkvist, I felt there was an emphasis to amp up his character as a beta male.(Not to be blue, but the second sex scene between Blomkvist and Salander left me wondering how they’re able to accomplish the missionary position in such a fashion)
Daniel Craig was well cast and did an excellent job. Christopher Plummer & Stellan Skarsgård were also excellent and that’s were this version exceeds the original. Were it fails and pales hugely in comparison is with Rooney Mara. Rooney looks like a fourteen year playing dress up. Noomi Rapace was outstanding in the original and gave the role a sense of authenticity. Noomi had a physicality and unpredictability that made her portrayal exciting. Fincher’s direction is by the numbers and not particularly interesting for what he’s capable of. Even the soundtrack was ordinary expect for the Led Zeppelin remake. That too was disappointing.
After all that……I still recommend that if you want to see an adult movie…watch the original on Netflix.
Just for the record. While author Stieg Larsson was an extremely leftwing journalist, the journalist character he created Mikael Blomkvist isn’t. In three thick books the only thing that could be considered a political opinion that Blomkvist has is his believe that his fellow financial journalists do to much cheerleading and to little investigative reporting. In the real world holding to a Political dogma of that nature could land you a job at such leftwing bastions like the Economist or Forbes Magazine.
Not sure why a movie about a serial killer needs three rape scenes, none of which have to do with the killer. There’s an awful lot of prurience for a movie that deplores violence against women (and casts someone who looks fourteen into those scenes.)
Meh. Skip it. It’s a wannabe “Silence of the Lambs.”
Jason,
Off-topic, but I was wondering if you were going to review the artist? I hear it is getting good reviews. I would be interested in your take given that it is (largely) a silent film.
Having seen all three of the Swedish films, I am not excited about the remake. The last one, “Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” is the most political…and the most boring. Typical leftie paranoia about secret Right-Wing cabals who protected Sweden during the Cold War who must now fall on thier swords, because they felt the ends justified the means.
I actually thought Rooney Mara was incredible in the role. I haven’t seen the original, I’ve definitely heard some people say Noomi Rapace was better, but I liked this movie quite a bit and I would unhesitatingly say that Mara was the best part. Lisbeth is the only reason to watch any of the films or read any of the books–otherwise they’re conventional thrillers–and I though she was perfect here. I couldn’t take my eyes off her.