Grade: B-
Yin: Languid pacing and extensive length could put some folks to sleep. Material is far less shocking than advertised. A true late-90s vibe from music to visuals to narrative.
Yang: Great atmosphere. Strong performance by Rooney Mara as Goth hacker Lisbeth Salander. A true late-90s vibe from music to visuals.
In-Between: Pipes aren’t meant to fit into certain crevasses.
I often ask the women in my family, “What’s the appeal of Law & Order: SVU?” or “What’s the appeal of those Lifetime movies where the women are brutally assaulted and raped?” I rarely get a definitive answer outside a noncommittal, “It’s interesting,” but I continue to ask because I can’t wrap my head around the appeal of watching women be viciously abused and subsequently receive only a modicum of retribution.
I assume I could ask the same of fans of the film adaptation of the first book in Steig Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and receive roughly the same answer. The difference between Law & Order and a Lifetime movie and Dragon Tattoo is simple: you can watch L&O or a Lifetime movie and be bored and appalled at the same time for free; Dragon Tattoo will cost you at least $11 and three hours of your time.
Is it worth it? For die-hard fans of moody Goth hacker Lisbeth Salander, Sweden, and the 21st century equivalent of a dime store mystery, definitely. For anybody who has seen the original Swedish version or prefers to see gruesome, misogynist mysteries wrapped up in an hour, for free, maybe.
From the post-teaser opening—filled with discordant, abstract images of naked bodies drenched in oil or black paint that look like escapees from a Madonna or, shockingly, a Nine Inch Nails video from 1997—to the names on the credits—especially a score by the once ubiquitous alt-Goth rock king Trent Reznor—it is clear that director David Fincher’s remake of the 2009 Swedish adaptation of Dragon Tattoo is a product of a bygone era. Dragon Tattoo is almost a note for note remake of the 2009 version, with the exception of an extended epilogue that rivals the conclusion of the Return of the King in terms of length. Fincher’s Dragon Tattoo follows disgraced Swedish financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig), publisher of fictional Swedish expose rag, Millennium, after his falling from grace when he libels a powerful industrialist, Hans-Erik Wennerström. Having lost his life savings and forced to relinquish his title as publisher, Mikael is inches away from losing everything he holds dear—including his relationship with paramour and Millennium editor Erika Berger (Robin Wright) and his religious teenage daughter—when he receives a call from the reclusive, mysterious, and affable Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer), the former CEO of Swedish conglomerate Vanger Industries. Vanger needs Mikael’s keen investigative instinct to solve the case of Henrik’s great-niece, Harriet, who disappeared 40 years prior. In return, Vanger will provide Mikael with a substantial payment and enough information to bury Wennerström. The only impediments to Mikael’s investigation are the isolation of the Vanger’s hometown, an insular island community known as Hedestad, and Vanger’s duplicitous and reclusive relatives, including the accommodating Martin Freeman (Stellan Skarsgrard), current CEO of Vanger Industries.
Mid-way through his investigation, Mikael finds himself lacking options and access to information and enlists the aid of the “investigator” who helped discredit him in the Wennerström case, Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara). As with the original Swedish version, Lisbeth receives a significant amount of buildup and back story before she and Mikael ever cross paths. A freelance super-hacker with a preference for Macs, Lisbeth is a striking if rather conventional character. She dresses like a Numetal Goth from the early 00s, complete with stacked spike boots, leather jacket, and enough asymmetrical hairstyles that she could give Derek J and the Hair Battle Spectacular judges pause. She is cold, pragmatic, and frank about her flexible sexual interests. She uses this rigid exterior to mask a soul that has been deeply wounded by abusive men. Before hooking up with Mikael, Lisbeth found herself under the thumb of a cartoonishly sadistic guardian who forced her to perform “favors” for her weekly allowance. When said guardian forces himself on her, Lisbeth delivers an appropriately cruel amount of justice that will allow her to act freely and continue monitoring Mikael, who she believes is a good man despite the libel case. Soon after being freed from her guardian’s control, Lisbeth is hired by Mikael, and they begin their quest to find Harriet, which involves a string of montages where each stares pensively a computer screens and dusty tomes to uncover the Vanger family’s dark secrets.
Dragon Tattoo is a well-crafted, but generally unnecessary work that doesn’t offer any profound visual or textual twist on the original material, which isn’t as shocking as the hype would like audiences to think. Fincher does an able job recreating the cold and quiet atmosphere of Hedestad, but brings nothing new beyond the his personal style and the style of the original film, which mesh together so well that it almost works against Fincher’s version. As with the original Swedish version, Fincher’s Dragon Tattoo is sprawling and languid. Its slow pace and meticulousness will likely deter audiences with short attention spans, but, ironically, it is a fairly simple, if grim and cynical, narrative with a mystery at its core that seasoned cinephiles and television fans will likely be able to uncover by the midway point. The grimness of the proceedings is nothing particularly unique or revealing, especially for those familiar with Fincher’s Se7en, but it is masterfully rendered through Fincher’s steady vision and some decent performances.
As Mikael, Daniel Craig tones down the intensity that has marked his turn as James Bond in the recent 007 features, opting for a more Clark Kent-like mild mannered journalist persona. Craig’s Mikael is a bit of a cipher. The audience knows why he’s investigating Harriet’s disappearance, but the lack of shading and detail prevents the audience from achieving a strong connection to the character. This is less of a concern for Rooney Mara’s Lisbeth, who is fully developed and receives a full character arc despite having no direct connection to the main mystery until halfway through the film. Mara gives Lisbeth even more vulnerability than Noomi Rapace—whose role as a knife-wielding gypsy in this year’s Sherlock Holmes sequel coincidentally preceded the Dragon Tattoo remake by four days—did in the 2009 version. Lisbeth’s sadness is far more palpable in Fincher’s version whereas her aggression was the highlight of the Swedish version. That palpable melancholy lays the foundation for the extended epilogue, which, despite its length, provides even more insight into the pain that lies within Lisbeth. In presenting this vulnerability without sacrificing some of Lisbeth’s more idiosyncratic tendencies, Mara deserves a more than fair measure of acclaim. Stellan Skarsgard fares less favorably than Mara and Craig, emitting a smarmy eagerness in the early goings that telegraphs far too much. Plummer and Wright perform with dignity in their supporting roles, with Plummer offering some necessary heart to counter Dragon Tattoo's bleakness, but have little opportunity to truly make a mark.
While not every performance or visual decision is revelatory, Dragon Tattoo is a well-made film that qualifies as a true “love it or hate it” experience. Dragon Tattoo will not appeal to everyone, and fans of the original book and movie are surely to get a bigger kick out of this than those who are unfamiliar with the material. The length could also turn off some audiences—which it shouldn’t in light of gargantuan epics like Transformers—and it is very possible that despite the craft invested in this film, some folks will fall asleep. But, for those who hang in there, they will find a film that, while not as shocking as advertised, does a fair job remaking a film that didn’t need to be remade.
I assume I could ask the same of fans of the film adaptation of the first book in Steig Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and receive roughly the same answer. The difference between Law & Order and a Lifetime movie and Dragon Tattoo is simple: you can watch L&O or a Lifetime movie and be bored and appalled at the same time for free; Dragon Tattoo will cost you at least $11 and three hours of your time.
Is it worth it? For die-hard fans of moody Goth hacker Lisbeth Salander, Sweden, and the 21st century equivalent of a dime store mystery, definitely. For anybody who has seen the original Swedish version or prefers to see gruesome, misogynist mysteries wrapped up in an hour, for free, maybe.
From the post-teaser opening—filled with discordant, abstract images of naked bodies drenched in oil or black paint that look like escapees from a Madonna or, shockingly, a Nine Inch Nails video from 1997—to the names on the credits—especially a score by the once ubiquitous alt-Goth rock king Trent Reznor—it is clear that director David Fincher’s remake of the 2009 Swedish adaptation of Dragon Tattoo is a product of a bygone era. Dragon Tattoo is almost a note for note remake of the 2009 version, with the exception of an extended epilogue that rivals the conclusion of the Return of the King in terms of length. Fincher’s Dragon Tattoo follows disgraced Swedish financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig), publisher of fictional Swedish expose rag, Millennium, after his falling from grace when he libels a powerful industrialist, Hans-Erik Wennerström. Having lost his life savings and forced to relinquish his title as publisher, Mikael is inches away from losing everything he holds dear—including his relationship with paramour and Millennium editor Erika Berger (Robin Wright) and his religious teenage daughter—when he receives a call from the reclusive, mysterious, and affable Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer), the former CEO of Swedish conglomerate Vanger Industries. Vanger needs Mikael’s keen investigative instinct to solve the case of Henrik’s great-niece, Harriet, who disappeared 40 years prior. In return, Vanger will provide Mikael with a substantial payment and enough information to bury Wennerström. The only impediments to Mikael’s investigation are the isolation of the Vanger’s hometown, an insular island community known as Hedestad, and Vanger’s duplicitous and reclusive relatives, including the accommodating Martin Freeman (Stellan Skarsgrard), current CEO of Vanger Industries.
Mid-way through his investigation, Mikael finds himself lacking options and access to information and enlists the aid of the “investigator” who helped discredit him in the Wennerström case, Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara). As with the original Swedish version, Lisbeth receives a significant amount of buildup and back story before she and Mikael ever cross paths. A freelance super-hacker with a preference for Macs, Lisbeth is a striking if rather conventional character. She dresses like a Numetal Goth from the early 00s, complete with stacked spike boots, leather jacket, and enough asymmetrical hairstyles that she could give Derek J and the Hair Battle Spectacular judges pause. She is cold, pragmatic, and frank about her flexible sexual interests. She uses this rigid exterior to mask a soul that has been deeply wounded by abusive men. Before hooking up with Mikael, Lisbeth found herself under the thumb of a cartoonishly sadistic guardian who forced her to perform “favors” for her weekly allowance. When said guardian forces himself on her, Lisbeth delivers an appropriately cruel amount of justice that will allow her to act freely and continue monitoring Mikael, who she believes is a good man despite the libel case. Soon after being freed from her guardian’s control, Lisbeth is hired by Mikael, and they begin their quest to find Harriet, which involves a string of montages where each stares pensively a computer screens and dusty tomes to uncover the Vanger family’s dark secrets.
Dragon Tattoo is a well-crafted, but generally unnecessary work that doesn’t offer any profound visual or textual twist on the original material, which isn’t as shocking as the hype would like audiences to think. Fincher does an able job recreating the cold and quiet atmosphere of Hedestad, but brings nothing new beyond the his personal style and the style of the original film, which mesh together so well that it almost works against Fincher’s version. As with the original Swedish version, Fincher’s Dragon Tattoo is sprawling and languid. Its slow pace and meticulousness will likely deter audiences with short attention spans, but, ironically, it is a fairly simple, if grim and cynical, narrative with a mystery at its core that seasoned cinephiles and television fans will likely be able to uncover by the midway point. The grimness of the proceedings is nothing particularly unique or revealing, especially for those familiar with Fincher’s Se7en, but it is masterfully rendered through Fincher’s steady vision and some decent performances.
As Mikael, Daniel Craig tones down the intensity that has marked his turn as James Bond in the recent 007 features, opting for a more Clark Kent-like mild mannered journalist persona. Craig’s Mikael is a bit of a cipher. The audience knows why he’s investigating Harriet’s disappearance, but the lack of shading and detail prevents the audience from achieving a strong connection to the character. This is less of a concern for Rooney Mara’s Lisbeth, who is fully developed and receives a full character arc despite having no direct connection to the main mystery until halfway through the film. Mara gives Lisbeth even more vulnerability than Noomi Rapace—whose role as a knife-wielding gypsy in this year’s Sherlock Holmes sequel coincidentally preceded the Dragon Tattoo remake by four days—did in the 2009 version. Lisbeth’s sadness is far more palpable in Fincher’s version whereas her aggression was the highlight of the Swedish version. That palpable melancholy lays the foundation for the extended epilogue, which, despite its length, provides even more insight into the pain that lies within Lisbeth. In presenting this vulnerability without sacrificing some of Lisbeth’s more idiosyncratic tendencies, Mara deserves a more than fair measure of acclaim. Stellan Skarsgard fares less favorably than Mara and Craig, emitting a smarmy eagerness in the early goings that telegraphs far too much. Plummer and Wright perform with dignity in their supporting roles, with Plummer offering some necessary heart to counter Dragon Tattoo's bleakness, but have little opportunity to truly make a mark.
While not every performance or visual decision is revelatory, Dragon Tattoo is a well-made film that qualifies as a true “love it or hate it” experience. Dragon Tattoo will not appeal to everyone, and fans of the original book and movie are surely to get a bigger kick out of this than those who are unfamiliar with the material. The length could also turn off some audiences—which it shouldn’t in light of gargantuan epics like Transformers—and it is very possible that despite the craft invested in this film, some folks will fall asleep. But, for those who hang in there, they will find a film that, while not as shocking as advertised, does a fair job remaking a film that didn’t need to be remade.
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