The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011, David Fincher) review
While not the most fascinating
plot or fantastic locations or relatable characters, this just felt like the most
intriguing and engaging film I’ve seen in yonks, possibly for those reasons.
For a start the sounds were outstanding, with constant background noises and an
eery score keeping things tense and flowing quickly, hardly allowing time for brain
pit-stops. They lead you to believe that a train, or even a door could be
dangerous. The make up and style of Lisabeth is incredible, with her white face
and eyebrows giving her a ghost like appearance, making it difficult to
determine gender or age, while her numerous piercings keep her fascinating and
intriguing to look at. The acting of Rooney Mara is incredibly difficult to
fault, as she really sells the damaged, genius, social outcast. Nice to see her
nominated for an Oscar, one of the few who deserve it. Even Daniel ‘as
predictable as Hugh Grant’ Craig’s performance won me over in the end. As the
plot moved on from the fairly boring first third we actually began to see
multiple facial expressions of Daniel Craig, including some genuinely funny
humour in relatable situations such as when he simply calls “Cat” for the unknown
cat. Also Fincher absolutely made the right choice to include the controversial
scenes (no spoilers here), as they really give an insight into why Lisabeth is
the way she is, with obviously the visual representation much stronger than
simply implying the actions.
The American with the Dragon Tattoo
I just have to
say, wow. Contender for best film I’ve seen all year. ( Although this is
only second cinema outing all year….)
Ok, I know this is blasphemy
considering I’m a Film Studies University student but I haven’t seen or read
any of the original Milennium Trilogy films or books. So this review is based
on Fincher’s film as being stand alone, without comparison to the original and
without getting into the debate of it being a ‘pointless remake’ which, apart
from the English language, is too similar to the original. However one thing
that annoyed me throughout the film is the nationalities. I found it hard to
keep up with what nationality the main characters were supposed to be, due to
it being set in Sweden but all of the characters, including a Mikael Blomkvist
having a perfect American accent.
Barring a very bond-esque title
sequence (I wish more movies had these) this was a pretty slow film to start.
We’re introduced to a whole bunch of boring people and Daniel Craig’s
expressionless face doesn’t do much to draw us in. You know the crazy, p@£%ing
annoying people who sit in front of you in cinemas who talk through the entire
thing, swinging back and forward in their chairs? Well I had the godfather of
those knobs in front of me and for the first half hour I just imagined smashing
a bottle over his head. Then the film picked up, a lot, and by the 45 min mark
my anger for that git had disappeared and I was totally engaged with the film.
So much so that the only other time I thought about the moron was at the end
when he stumbled his way out.
While not the most fascinating
plot or fantastic locations or relatable characters, this just felt like the most
intriguing and engaging film I’ve seen in yonks, possibly for those reasons.
For a start the sounds were outstanding, with constant background noises and an
eery score keeping things tense and flowing quickly, hardly allowing time for brain
pit-stops. They lead you to believe that a train, or even a door could be
dangerous. The make up and style of Lisabeth is incredible, with her white face
and eyebrows giving her a ghost like appearance, making it difficult to
determine gender or age, while her numerous piercings keep her fascinating and
intriguing to look at. The acting of Rooney Mara is incredibly difficult to
fault, as she really sells the damaged, genius, social outcast. Nice to see her
nominated for an Oscar, one of the few who deserve it. Even Daniel ‘as
predictable as Hugh Grant’ Craig’s performance won me over in the end. As the
plot moved on from the fairly boring first third we actually began to see
multiple facial expressions of Daniel Craig, including some genuinely funny
humour in relatable situations such as when he simply calls “Cat” for the unknown
cat. Also Fincher absolutely made the right choice to include the controversial
scenes (no spoilers here), as they really give an insight into why Lisabeth is
the way she is, with obviously the visual representation much stronger than
simply implying the actions.
Trying to think of things to
fault is fairly difficult, although there were a few things that I wasn’t
overly fussed on. At times I couldn’t keep up with the plot due to the sheer
amount of characters and names thrown about- I mean seriously, how big is the
suspect’s family?! Also some of the camera movements were a bit distracting.
Where I loved how close ups were often used on Lisabeth to show off her
features and make her just look really unusual, sometimes it went too far such
as one shot where the camera tracks behind her and ends up being a close up,
but she’s upside down, which is a bit disengaging. Only other thing I can think
of is that I will never be able to watch this film with my parents, thanks to a
lot of boobies and naughty parts.
Overall I was surprised with how
much I enjoyed the film. Like I said I’m judging it as a stand-alone and not
comparing with the Swedish trilogy. I think that Rooney Mara should be a strong
contender at the Oscars for best actress and the film absolutely deserves its
nominations for best sound editing and sound mixing.
Recommended, just don’t bring
parents/grandparents/people who support Liverpool (for obvious reasons).
Verdict: 4.1/5
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