The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

extract from theaterofthecommonman.com

TheaterofCommon Flicks Superstar (?)

Flicks User Ratings

• Nobody
• Wannabe
• B-Grader
• A-Lister
• Flicks Superstar
• Find out more

There are many reasons to doubt the necessity of 2011's 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'. Afterall, I enjoyed Niels Arden Oplev 's Swedish adaption a great deal. To me there was seemingly no artistic need to reboot the film. Today however, I had a powerful lesson in the short comings of my own perception. David Fincher's adaption is near perfect. His film making style and directorial vision wholly supports the disturbingly dark world of investigative journalism. Both Oplev & Fincher were able to portray the gritty underbelly of Stieg Larson's imagination, though Fincher has been able to bring a refreshingly stylised intensity to the material, engaging us even closer into the murky detail.

Daniel Craig's portrayal of Mikael Blomkist, the disgraced journalist is strong, but is clearly overshadowed by our tattooed heroine Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara). Rooney, who got her shot at the big time in 'The Social Network', is fully deserving of her return to Finchers Lens. Her role requires she bare almost all that she has to offer, and boy does she. Mara goes about her business with quite resolution despite the most human inner conflicts she would be experiencing. She fully deserves all that the acolations bestowed on her this awards season. If i had a casting vote in the academy it would go her way.

Thankfully the right people were at the helm of 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo', as with many that have gone before, it could have fallen into annals of cinematic history only to referred to as a needless remake. However, for me im satisfied. After a significant running time of 158mins I wasn't ready to leave. I would have happily slipped into the next film 'The Girl who played with Fire', in fact that's what I'm going to do now thanks to Niels Arden Oplev and his Swedish trilogy.