The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
| Directed by: | David Fincher |
|---|---|
| Written by: | Steve Zaillian |
| Cast: | Rooney Mara, Daniel Craig, Christopher Plummer, Robin Wright, Stellan Skarsgard, Joely Richardson, Steven Berkoff, David Dencik |
| Studio: | Sony Pictures |
| Genre: | Crime, Mystery, Thriller |
| Official Site: | www.dragontattoo.com |
PROS:
+ fantastic direction (visually stunning, well shot)
+ good cast (Rooney Mara was great, but Daniel Craig was just as good in an underrated performance, Stellan Skarsgård although he had relatively limited screentime was a total standout, especially in the later parts)
+ solid soundtrack (score is better than The Social Network's, more effective and the use of 'Sail Away' was surprising and great)
CONS:
- muddled storytelling that just doesn't work (the viewer is often left in the dark as to what's happening while it's happening and then only after the viewer's scrambling to understand what's going on they explain why the past 20 minutes just happened and what they meant, it just feels a bit cheap and makes things more confusing than they needed to be)
- the pace is often all over the place and while the climax of the movie was great, the movie continues on for another 20 minutes and starts a new mini-plot instead of wrapping everything up nicely like they easily could have
- this isn't a real negative but why does this movie take place in Sweden? I know the original did but it just didn't feel like Sweden at all, especially with all the English going around (yes, I know they speak English there too but come on) it would've been better if they had just done what Let Me In did, and move the location to somewhere in North America, heck even Canada which would make it fresh
OVERALL:
for the most part it's a very strong movie technically but it's brought down just by how inconsiderate the storytelling feels. The narrative is so out of whack that it almost seems arrogant, throwing a ton of details at the viewer while they're in the dark, just racking up the confusion minute after minute and then explaining everything after, forcing the viewer to look back at the past 20 minutes and connect the pieces now that they kind of know what it was supposed to mean, yet by then the movie's already on to the next thing, which makes the movie as a whole a bit stressful and at it's core, hard to follow not only in terms of details and story progression but also in terms of dialog and especially characters. The movie has a lot going for it, but it has a good amount going against it as well. Hopefully they can clear some of these things up with the sequel as even though I found this one disappointing, I'm still open to another one.
One of the year's Best Films , the performances were Amazing , the Score was brilliant , and the pacing and scattered story telling were True to the Source material , essential in this Series , Trust me . Fincher's Film also looked amazing , a real Jewel .
OK. Read the books. Loved them. Really enjoyed the Scandinavian films but didnt love them and I really enjoyed this film but I didnt love it.
I thought on it's own, just as the film, it was awesome. The pacing, the cinematography, the acting. His choices on what to leave in and what to cut (In regards to the book to film conversion) were very smart, though I could have dealt with more in the area of how deep he investigated the family and how deeply fucked up they were but he did get it in there and it was evident. My point is in the book your chest deep in how fucked up they are in this film you only get knee deep. It's a very minor gripe though, I think Fincher got the point across he just didnt bash you in the head with it so when certain plot points are revealed it's a shock but it's not the "Christ! How can it get any worse?" that it could have been.
My only real complaint was Mara. While I think she brought it and did a very good job, as best she could, as Lisabeth, and I'm sure it's because I read the books, I didn't completely buy her as Lisabeth. I felt the same with Noomi but for completely different reasons and again, I blame being very close to the source material going in.
I didn't believe Mara could kick someone's ass like Lisabeth would. I felt she was almost desperate where Noomi I completely believed she could kick someone's ass and be so smart and desperation never entered into her character. Sure, she could get in over her head but she was cool about it. Mara's character gave me the impression that she was on the edge all the time and I think Lisabeth is too smart for that. But in every other way I feel this film was better than the Scandinavian one.
To me Lisabeth is a damaged character but a high functioning, guarded, super smart damaged character. Mara didn't give me that. And now that I think about it Noomi gave me that in spades and I can't remember what my problem with her was. Whatever it was it was inconsequential.
If you havent read the book, Great film.
If you have read the book, very, very good film.
^I guess it is like you say but that was one of my problems with the movie, or at least something I think it could've done better was the whole investigation itself, it wasn't presented well enough not only in terms of it being confusing (especially if you haven't read the books) for most but also I just never really felt like these two people investigating were really getting anywhere or really doing anything and the key pieces they would find seemed to come out of nowhere. It's definitely a movie I think that would be more enjoyable and a LOT easier to understand for someone who read the book though. Still like I said, it wasn't bad and I'm definitely looking forward to the sequel.
I found this movie completely ineffective. While I will agree the directing was solid, I was just not impressed by the acting, and found the score weaker than that of the Social Network. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that they weren't given much to work with. I know it's based off of a best-selling series, but come on, the story is just WEAK. I would probably give it a 5/10. Well analyzed on your part, it just didn't strike the same chords with me.