Just to clarify, this is the brand spanking new David Fincher, English language version, not the original Swedish Language version which was made just 2 years ago. I say this because I was initially uninterested in this picture, and then incredibly interested due to the input of David Fincher as Director. The initial disinterest sprang from the fact that it felt very much like a Hollywood cash in. The original Swedish films were becoming incredibly popular, as were the books, and it was almost as though Hollywood could smell the cash. However with the film being incredibly dark and filled with rape, murder, torture, libel cases, and investigative journalism, it didn't really seem like blockbuster fare. In crept doubts, doubts that it would be too toned down, that it would gloss over much of the dreariness and add a Hollywood sheen and maybe a few more explosions to guarantee success.
However then you get David Fincher, a man who built his reputation on Seven and Fight Club, two superb films which are bleak in their view on human nature at the best of times. This news filled me with glee, not only would the original darkness remain intact, but David Fincher was making another film. But there is still the issue that this is a Hollywood remake of a popular foreign film. Hell, even Scorsese couldn't make a film as good as the original. Well let me just say that whilst this is a fine attempt, it is a flawed picture.
I should clarify here that the flaws I am talking about though do not necessarily make it worse than the original film. The flaws as I see them are the plot, or rather the pacing of the plot. I felt as though there was too much time passing before the two main protagonists actually meet, although the character of Lisbeth is wonderfully set up. I also felt that the investigation into the family all unravels rather quickly toward the end (not something that you would expect from a film of this length) and finally that the parts of the film that happen after the case is solved just don't gel all that well, after devoting so much of the film to solving a murder, to suddenly go into corporate finances at the end just feels a little wrong footed. However these are not the fault of Fincher or indeed of Steven Zaillian (whose previous writing credits include Schindlers list and Moneyball). They unfortunately lie with the source material. I seem to remember a similar problem with the original film. Though the books are intended as part of a series which I imagine would be what this is setting up.
But despite this the films holds up very well. The toughest job has to be Rooney Mara, taking on the role of Lisbeth who was so iconically played by Noomi Rapace in the previous trilogy. I felt that she not only pulled it off, but that she really made it her own. Whilst my first thought when she came on screen was of Rapace, by the end of the film I only had eyes for Rooney Mara. This is not to say that she is better, but that she is just as good in the role, and that she plays it with the conviction needed to pull it off. Daniel Craig too does a great job in the role he is given, looking like both a heartthrob and a distressed writer in equal measure.
Fincher does a wonderful job with directing this film as it zooms along at a great pace, never feeling quite as long as it is, intercutting between the events of the past and the present and letting the case unravel on screen as it does for those looking into it. Thankfully he doesn't shy away from some of the stories more brutal moments. They are shocking here as they were in the original, whilst you could argue that they have been toned down a little, you could not say that this is to the detriment of the film.
If I'm honest with you I have to say that this is one of the best adaptations of its kind that I have seen. It stays true to the original and creates its own identity. A mention must go out to the music too, what Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor have created is a tense pulsating soundtrack which truly helps set the mood for the film.
Whilst the question may remain whether a remake was needed, particularly so soon after the original, I doubt people will be shunning it as it sits alongside the original in terms of quality and tone.
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