The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

The English version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo had some big shoes to fill with the crossover of not only the Swedish book, but also the Swedish film as well. David Fincher is one of the few directors I could have seen actually pulling this off and he did it quite well.

Exciting, entrancing, enthralling, and entertaining from beginning to end, this version would have done Stieg Larsson proud. I went into this movie a little weary because of how good the Swedish version was. I didn't think any actress could match what Noomi Rapace had done in the first version, but then there is Rooney Mara. Absolutely stupendous! Bringing Lisbeth Salander's vengefulness, brutality, and smarts to the big screen is no easy feat, but Mara does it with elegance, enticing beauty, and ease. She carries the movie with seemingly little effort. Fincher made a great call casting a little known actress such as Mara for this role. She has a great chance of at least being nominated for many awards this season.

Daniel Craig lays down his Walther PPK and instead picks up his pen for this movie and proves that he is more than just an action star. His acting was believable and a far cry from his previous roles, but he couldn't really hold up across from Mara. Stellan Skarsgård as always was spectacular, I think better than Peter Haber, creating a character who could have been the head of company and liked by people he worked with. Haber was just too strange in my opinion.

The storyline of this version stays relatively close to the Swedish version, but adds its own bits and pieces here and there to make it a fresh version. Having a foreign film to base much of this movie off of probably helped a lot with how to pace it and how to present events. The story, obviously thanks entirely to Larsson,  is amazing and great fun to watch on the big screen, especially this time in English instead of having to read the entire time.

The layout of the island was sleek and mysterious and Martin's house was perfect. Every building was similar to the Swedish version, but had interesting tweaks making them new and exciting. However, the guest house was very similar to the guest house in the Swedish version, which was a pleasant surprise. The combination of similarities and differences throughout this version of the first in the Millennium series worked in perfect harmony.

The one difference I didn't like was the lessened violence. That was one of the most important parts of the Swedish version to me. Yes, some parts of the movie were still violent/aggressive enough almost to the point of having to look away, but others needed more to give the shock value the Swedish version had. The time in Martin's house should have been extended as well.

This remake of the Swedish original definitely did both the movie and the book justice and was in no way a disappointment. See it while you can! But it definitely won't be the last we see from this stellar group of entertainers.

8/10