From The Social Network to Alien 3, David Fincher's previous work has been meticulous and thorough. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo continues that tradition. The book and Fincher seemed tailor made for each other, allowing him to be as intricate as he likes to be with visual detail while weaving a captivating story.
Based on a the Swedish book, The Men Who Hate Women, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo has previously been adapted into film in its native country. As I only saw the original today, my mind naturally went to a place of comparing and contrasting the two. The Swedish version is a much more fluid film, integrating every aspect of the story in a more cohesive manner. That seems to be the only place I can firmly say the first adaptation was superior.
Fincher was very smart in knowing that the type of people who would want to see this are the same people who made the Swedish version a hit. He took a number of liberties and changed just enough about the film to keep it fresh, even for the most die hard fan of the source material.
Dragon Tattoo stars Daniel Craig as a disgraced reporter who is enlisted by a wealthy businessman to track down his niece's killer. A young woman named Lisbeth (played by Rooney Mara) is chronicled as well and at first you don't know that there will be much of a correlation between the two. As Craig's Mikael is searching through the dirty laundry of the Vagner family, Lisbeth is dealing with a lecherous case worker since she has been committed as a ward of the state. Mikael and Lisbeth eventually come together to partner on finding the killer of Harriet Vagner, but not before stumbling upon a serial killer's trail. The film picks up it's pace at this point and leads into a very fulfilling climax.
Highlights: Daniel Craig is commanding on screen and handles the weight his character is going through with an intensity and grace few other actors can. For those waiting for the next Bond film, Tattoo is a nice respite. The main story of the conspiracy is strong and well plotted. The film doesn't get into problems with pacing until it veers to far away from the investigation.
Disappointments: The seven tacked on epilogues made the final act of the film play closer to Return of the King than to Seven. An out of character moment when Lisbeth asks for permission to do something in the final act takes you out of the moment. The titular Girl with the Dragon Tattoo takes a back seat to Daniel Craig as the movie is clearly his and Lisbeth relegated to his sidekick. I couldn't stomach the scenes between Lisbeth and her case worker. I had to look away. Overall, I do recommend the film. I would recommend Fincher's stylized version over the Swedish, but I also think you should pick one or the other. Watching both just makes your brain pit them against each other instead of looking into the movies themselves.
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