The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011) Review: A Film For Grown-Ups

Yell! Magazine’s review of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo:

Please leave a comment and/or your impression of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo below.

Hey, I’ve got a question for you.

Why would you reiterate a 2-year-old film that’s already done an exquisite job of adapting a best-selling novel?

The answer?

For the moneeeh…

I mean, the pants of Swedish critics haven’t even dried yet over the original, so it’s the only reasonable explanation, you know? This kind of puts David Fincher under the gun, because if he fails to deliver quality entertainment, his lower nature will have been exposed, and his Christmas will be ruined by angry fans pelting his house with toads. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo isn’t really the first thing that jumps to mind when you think of films produced on the Hollywood assembly line, and so the main anticipation behind a film like this lies in the wondering whether or not this fan-favorite is going to wind up as the product of corporate meddling.

I’m pleased, however, to report that despite being wholly unnecessary, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is not only a film of quality, but does justice to the original — for the most part.

Skip to page 2 if you want to read the part of this review with no SPOILERS
After a visually rich and exciting credits sequence that has nothing to do with anything, our story begins in Stockholm, Sweden, as investigative reporter, Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) has found himself near rock-bottom after losing a libel case. His fall from grace, as well as his penchant for deductive reasoning pique the interest of an aging Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer), a man who laments and obsesses over the loss of his great-niece, Harriet, after she was kidnapped back in ’66. Seeking a background check on the intrepid journalist, Vanger enlists the help of Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), a pallid-faced, anti-social hacker with a propensity for sadism and casual sex.

MY FAVORITE FLAVOR

Once he checks out clean, Henrik accepts The Lucrative Case of the Missing Harriet, but not without arousing the curiosity of Lisbeth, who’s still poking around inside his computer, because she’s got nothing better to do. She drops him a hint with regard to his next clue, and soon the two find themselves working together, a la Sherlock Holmes and Watson — the only difference being that this time around, the sexual tension is totally welcomed by the audience.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, with no SPOILERS, continues on page 2…