The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by David Fincher. This is one of the few cases of an American remake of a foreign language film being as good as the original. Trent Reznor continues to do a great job with the soundtrack, along with Atticus Ross. Everything's well acted, well shot, well paced. It's a real crowd pleaser, even though the content may be disturbing for some viewers.
Not a bad movie by any means, but might be a bit confusing for someone who hasn't seen the original or read the book.
"You will be investigating thieves, misers, bullies. The most detestable collection of people that you will ever meet - my family."
Ending this year with a banger. One of the few hollywood remakes that make sense and is done in an excellent way. The soundtrack and cinematography capture the tone that is needed to tell this story and I wish Fincher, Craig and Mara had come back to make a sequel.
I cannot deny that this movie is well made. It's atmosphere, mystery and thriller elements are all top notch. The story is solid. The detective work is engaging and well depicted.
That said, there were other elements that felt grotesque, gratuitous and just extended the runtime a lot. This is a looong movie, and it's made even longer by a bunch of scenes of sex and sexual assault that we really do not need. Like sure, some of it goes to telling us about Lizbeth's backstory and character, but I honestly think the movie would have been better without them.
I think the main justification for why they're there is to establish the characters in ways that only really matter if this movie has sequels, which it was clearly intended to (as the books and Swedish adaptations do), but they never really eventuated. In light of that, I feel that nothing would be lost without those scenes, and the first half of the movie would be shorter and tighter, and the age rating could also probably be bumped down.
Overall, I found this a very stressful viewing experience, and not one I'd recommend for the faint of heart, by any means. If you're not easily shocked, you'll find a very good mystery thriller here.
Can’t believe it took me so long to see this! Where have I been hiding all this time!? Must’ve been under a rock!
It was incredibly dark and disturbing, but equally as gripping and intriguing. Lots of mystery and lots of unravelling of dark history. What’s not to love in a thriller!
Not what i expected at all & a little disappointing but it was ok still a good watch.
23 April 2012
Right ; here it is; I've finally seen "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011)" & was underwhelmed. It's well acted & shot. The dialogue is ....... well lost by an unnecessary amount of background 'noise' (how much music!) Quite frankly the 2009 film (Swedish version, NOT dubbed; read the subtitles) is head and shoulders better in these fields plus also covers more of the plot points from the novel in only about 20 minutes more screen time. I wanted to enjoy this so much but having seen Michael Nyqvist as 'Kalle' Blomkvist Daniel Craig was just going to have too much to do to even come close. I do like how Michael's daughter snagged a role as the girl who sells Daniel coffee, cakes & ciggies! If you haven't seen either film start with this; then seek out the trilogy with Noomi Rapace, Michael Nyqvist et al to see how it should be done. Oh & read the books as well, it's worth it!
So well directed. David is insane.
Wish it committed to more of a grunge aesthetic with 'the girl', which Fincher has shown he can do with 'Fight Club', rather than just have her do the same thing Daniel Craig is doing for the whole thing. It's more subtle, sure, but this movie is just a less subtle/more Hollywood 'Zodiac' anyway so I don't think it works too well here.
I really ought to watch the 2009 trilogy...
I can see why this book series sold so well: it’s very pulpy and fools you into thinking it’s more adult than it really is by presenting disturbing content in a way that feels cheap and trashy. Take the elaborate set-up we get for Lisbeth’s character before she enters the main story. Emotionally it hits all the right buttons, but it’s so fucking ridiculous and over the top that you can’t take it as serious as the movie wants us to. The investigation side of the story is alright, but due to the density of the book it’s way too reliant on convenience, exposition and, again, schlocky sensationalism. We can’t just wrap up the whodunit with a classic denouement, no, we need an extended torture scene followed by a chase scene! It’s almost needless to say, but Fincher’s not exactly working with the best material here. Yet, I still like the movie overall. His filmmaking is as perfect as it can be (atmospheric cinematography and score, great sense of pace) and the characters really pop as a result of great dialogue and acting. Rooney Mara is truly excellent here, her acting is so good that I didn’t even need that aforementioned set-up to be sold on her character, everything is already implied with the acting. As a character piece of two damaged individuals it’s a lot more interesting, and Fincher knows that too, because the movie doesn’t wrap up after the whodunit is solved. All in all, it’s a good movie with a mediocre script that’s below Fincher’s talents.
7/10
I can’t help but feel there’s a far superior 2 hour cut of this movie somewhere. Technically it’s rock solid. The production is great. Story is interesting. But at this beefy run time, there’s far too many spots that seem to drag. Conceptually, I REALLY want to watch it again. In practicality, it seems like a small chore to do so. I can see why people may love this film, but it’s certainly held back for me slightly due to this reason.
Rating: 3.5/5 - 80% - Would Recommend
excellent lots of suspense and action :thumbsup_tone2::thumbsup_tone2::thumbsup_tone2:
A Hollywood remake of a foreign film?
Urgh, right?
Wrong.
This was just as good and dark and threatening and puzzling.
A very interesting storyline and not at all what I expected. I would've scored it a 9 but it felt like something, not sure what, was missing. The cast was really good, so it was something in the directing, maybe something that ended up on the floor, maybe just Craig and Robin Wright. I've always thought she sucks and they had pretty much no chemistry at all, especially their first scene in the movie. Fortunately she's not in much of it, so yeah, that's probably what dropped it from a 9 to an 8.
A solid thriller, if a little confusing at times.
Since I haven't read the book, I was a little overwhelmed by the numerous characters and names, many of which are never seen or only appear onscreen once or twice. Subtitles helped a lot but I still found myself having to go back or pause to remember who someone was. Part of this can also be attributed to some quick cuts. Maybe it was my imagination but it felt like shots that revealed information onscreen (e.g. a photo or text) were very short. I think making these shots a second or two longer would have been helpful.
Performances were well done. Neither Craig or Mara blew me away but I don't have any complaints either. I was suprised to see quite a few big names present: Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgard, Robin Wright, and Joely Richardson. It was also fun to see Joel Kinnaman make an appearance in such a minor role since this was prior to his rise in popularity.
Ultimately, this is a pretty depressing film. Having just watched The Nightingale, I think I was a little numb or desensitized to the violence but there is one particularly brutal and horrific scene involving Mara's character. The entire film emphasizes a bleak, dark, grey atmosphere that never really lets up. Even the plot itself, concerned with the presumable death of a young woman amidst a family of Nazis, is bleak. In short, this is a heavy thriller, though it does have small moments of hope.
Even though I might not watch it again because it's so bleak and depressing, I definitely recommend it if you like dark thrillers.
I don't know if it got better, but 45 minutes in I realized this wasn't working for me and pulled the plug. Movie did the complete opposite of grabbing my interest.
Lisbeth Salander: Something wrong with the report?
Dirch Frode: No, no. It was quite thorough. I'm more interested in what's not in it.
Lisbeth Salander: There's nothing "not in it".
Lisbeth Salander: There's nothing 'not in it'.
Dirch Frode: Your opinion of him isn't .
Lisbeth Salander: He's clean in my opinion.
Dirch Frode: You mean, he's hygienic?
David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is yet another poorly made America remake of a much better foreign film. When a disgraced journalist and a cyber-tech are hired by Henrik Vange to investigate the disappearance of his grandniece 40-years ago, they end up uncovering some disturbing family secrets. Though Fincher creates a beautiful and captivating visual style, the storytelling is poor and unfocused; lingering too long on minutia and meandering through meaningless subplots, deluding the air of mystery among all the tangents and complicated conspiracies. The acting, however, is solid; but even here Rooney Mara isn’t as good as Noomi Rapace in the original, and doesn’t have the charisma to carry the film. While The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a fairly smart dramatic thriller, it suffers from poor execution.
Rooney Mara was excellent and Oscar Nominated. Apparently she was never asked to come back. David Fincher never made a sequel but we got a half assed one with different actors. That got rated pretty bad.
"It's hard to believe that the fear of offending can be stronger than the fear of pain, but you know what? It is."
The fact we never got a direct sequel in Fincher's vision is absolutely devastating.
I haven't been so engrossed and wrapped up in a mystery for quite awhile. Even on a second watch.
Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara were so beautifully intimate together. It was wild, but strangely sweet.
And how could I forget about the fantastic the opening credits. It's like a James Bond opener, but dark.
I read a lot about real life serial killers and how they minds can work. So it's amazing to see a movie get it so accurate that it's kinda scary.
David Fincher is a king.
A little long but Rooney Mara's performance makes this movie a must watch.
Musique de Trent Reznor... Multiples ambiances. Super adaptation.
I really liked the original swedish version with Noomi Rapace but I gotta say, David Fincher did a superb job with the US-Version. Just a shame they didn't continue with "The Girl who Played with Fire".
A surprisingly enjoyable film. What else could you want? Bond, two girls getting to know each other, action, suspense, etc. More importantly this was my introduction into the amazing Rooney Mara.
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Don't have to complain about the master's style: everybody knows Fincher don't have any worry in showing crude and nude all the scenes, being shoking or not shoking. Besides that, once more, David Fincher proves again that is in thrillers like this one that he does his best.
A well made film with strong visuals.
holy shit fincher. also i'm glad they banged
Loved it. Wished they would continue. I mean it's a trilogy.
I loved the Swedish version (which I watched first) and I loved this version. Both are disturbing and brilliant but I do have to say that if you watch the Swedish trilogy first, it will make the US version a lot easier to understand.
A very confusing movie had to watch it twice to undertsnad what it was all about. But over all good!
Music/Cinematography much better in this version. Overall movie flow, tone, and direction goes to the original IMHO. I guess the rape scene is better in the new one...
the original is so much better!
Exactly same like with Departed. Look Infernal Affairs Part I+II+III (Original Title Mou gaan dou)
I excepted so much more. The movie is not bad at all. The camera is perfect, but that's not enough for a really good movie.
In the end it is a detective story with two complete different characters. And in this category "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" has no chance to:
Se7en, The Ring, LA Confidential, The Silence of the lambs
Yeah you guys are thinking: "wtf ? This movies are not in the same setting." Yeah, you're right. But these are all detective stories. The protagonist wants to find the truth of a (mystery)event. And all these movies are just much better than this.
Not bad, not bad at all.
Great Movie, really enjoyed that one.
Forget Swedish version if you already saw it. This is the Nine inch nails version, in music and spirit.
Nothins as compared to both the book and the Swedish movie =/
Excellent movie, but not even close to the Swedish one.
I dissagree with chrimprider, the fincher version is so much better.
a shocking awesome movie
okay but the Swedish version is much better don't see this after you seen the Swedish version you just get disspointed
One of my favorite movie. Rooney Mara was fucking awesome!!!
How is it compared to the original?
Amazing! Rooney Mara <3
Shout by Justin WolfBlockedParent2012-06-30T07:35:23Z
Beautiful, disturbing, mind blowing. I may be in the minority, but I thought this version was superior to the Swedish. Rooney Mara was magic. Played Lisbeth so well.