The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Movie Review

Movies goers should know the name David Fincher as a go to for one of the smartest, innovative, and creative minds behind the camera in this day and age of cinema. He started his career with the underwhelming Alien 3 but since then has created some of the best movies of all time. His impressive credits include Fight Club, Se7en, Zodiac, and The Social Network. Now we have The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo the start to the Millennium Trilogy from the acclaimed series from Stieg Larsson. The trailer for this movie set up high expectations for this film and promised a dark, gritty "feel bad" movie. Not only that, it promised the return of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross to score the film. Needless to say, I was excited and expecting another instant classic from Fincher. Would Fincher be able to meet his expectations? Will this be a great start to the rest of the trilogy? Read on to find out...

The film follows Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) who has been recently charged with libel sa his reputation crumbles. Surprisingly he is hired by Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer) to solve the unsolved case of the murder of Henrik's great-niece Harriet. The film also follows Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), an asocial surveillance agent for a security company, who must deal with a sadistic guardian before getting hired by Blomkvist as a research assistant to help him solve the case. As Blomkvist and Salander get closer to getting answers, the higher the threats and risks the search becomes as they uncover a deep and immense corruption beyond their imagination.

Fincher is personally one of my all time favorite directors. I have always enjoyed his films and think he brings a unique eye to the camera that we do not see from many directors today. So when he decided to do Dragon Tattoo I was ecstatic. I was hopeful for a great mystery thriller from the same director as Se7en but only more mature and more daring. That said I did get my wish, most of it at least. While this is by no means an instant classic that will go down as one of the all time greats, this movie is still another solid output by Fincher that will probably make my Top Ten list at the end of the year. It is dark, cold, mysterious, thrilling, and overall a solid piece of cinema.

Let me get my critiques out of the way so that I can focus on my praise. The main problem I saw in this film was the editing in the first part of the film. I can't remember seeing so many intercuts and crosscuts in the first hour of a Fincher film. It felt rushed and a little messy. It was holding the film back and made me nervous. On reflection, Fincher had a lot fo ground to cover to get to the juicy parts of the story so he had to find a quick way to get to the main part of the story. Fortunately though, and hopefully without sounding like a pervert, the movie gets into a smooth stride and starts hitting the best parts starting at the rape scene. From then on its an awesome ride that I highly enjoyed for the rest of the way. While I may critique the first part for its editing I still enjoyed the shots and character development. So editing in the first half is my only beef but it doesn't get in the way of the overall product.

As with most of Fincher's film, the visuals dominate this story and take it to the next level. This movie included one of the scariest and best shots of a door in all of cinema. Working once again with Cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth, the look of the film reflects the dark, cold mood that Fincher is looking for. I will admit that as the movie progressed I personally felt colder just from watching it. I enjoyed the look of the film and even subtle stuff like shooting Lisbeth's new guardian at the waist, sexual subtext, shows Fincher's genius. It is another slap of Fincher's mastery of the camera and continues to prove his skills.

That being said, Fincher was also able to pull out an amazing performance from Rooney Mara as the unique Lisbeth. We have seen Mara's skills before in The Social Network but it would be interested to see how should would pull off this role. Luckily she was successful and pulls out one of the best performances in a year of amazing acting from actresses. The most impressive part for me comes near the end where Mara was able to as subtly as possible bring some soft emotional presence to her character. She nails the voice, the aura, and dominates the rape/revenge scenes with he new guardian. This will be Mara's breakout role and should get her some critical acclaim and I can't wait to see more from her.

If you have seen the Sweden version or read the books, you know that Dragon Tattoo is a gritty and mature story that takes the audience to its limits. I was interested to see how Fincher was going to handle the rape scene, Lisbeth's revenge, and the relationship between Blomkvist and Lisbeth. I think he handled it quite exceptionally in my opinon. The rape scene is horrifying only second to films like Irreversible and the revenge scenes is incredible as Mara dominates the atmosphere. Only to end on a great shot of the her sadistic guardian, now in a Christ crucified figure, with his brand new tattoo. I don't want to ruin too much for viewers who haven't seen it but its one hell of a powerful image and another favorite of mine from the film. Also be prepared for the most sex that an R rated movie can get away with. I was even surprised, first how it wasn't real sex, and how much they got away with. It doesn't feel over the top luckily and fits in with the story.


Lastly, let me applaud Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross on once again creating an intense and mood setting score that controls the film. Just like in The Social Netowrk, their duo's score is an integral part of the film and helps take it to the next level. It builds suspense and moves the film in a smooth flow. I believe that Fincher and the Reznor/Ross team should stick together for a long time. Everything from the opening credits to the pulsating climax is wonderful to listen to as well as watch. I would be surprised if Reznor and Ross do not one again win the Oscar.


Overall despite some obvious flaws in the first hour, this film is fantastic and a wonderful Fincher flick. The acting is solid and has an incredible performance from Mara. The score is amazing as expected. The visuals are wonderful to watch and dominate the film. I happily enjoyed it and cannot wait for more. As for the changed ending? I rather enjoyed it and didn't find it to mess up the story too much. I am excited for a sequel as always to see more from Fincher and crew.

4.25/5