Nordling here.
When I heard that David Fincher would be making his version of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO I decided then and there that I wouldn't read the book or see the original film. I wanted to make it a point to come to it completely clean and allow Fincher to be my window to the material. David Fincher has become part of the upper echelon of directors at this point - he has the luxury of picking what projects that he wants to work on and making the material uncompromising and completely his own. His recent output of films felt they came completely from his own feelings and emotions at the time - even BENJAMIN BUTTON.
When Steven Spielberg made JURASSIC PARK, he was coming off the critical and commercial failure of HOOK, and so it seemed an obvious choice for him to make. JURASSIC PARK is very much a Spielberg film, and it's a good one. But it's also a film for the masses. It's a "one for them" movie. It's a great film, no doubt, but it's a movie based on a popular novel, it's designed to be a blockbuster, and although it's directed perfectly, I don't think anyone would say that it's a personal work for him. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO is Fincher's JURASSIC PARK - it's a movie that only he could have made, I think audiences will enjoy it very much, and yet there is very little in it that feels like Fincher is doing anything new. Technically, it's marvelous, but emotionally, spiritually, Fincher's been here before, many times, and frankly it's the kind of story that he could tell with very little effort. That's not to say it's a bad movie, far from it - it's just not a film that feels like Fincher put a personal stamp on the material, but simply adapted it. And that's okay.
It might have been a mistake on my part to approach DRAGON TATTOO the way that I did - because I was unfamiliar with the books and the characters I'm not sure how loyal the film is to Stieg Larsson's novel. From what I understand, other than the ending, it's very close. I'll be sure to see the original film and read the original novel when I get a chance, but for those wondering how good Fincher's DRAGON TATTOO is, I'll say that the film is slick, enjoyable, and it definitely feels like a film from David Fincher, and if I sound disappointed it's because it doesn't live up to Fincher's other entries to the suspense/serial killer genre.
And how could it? SEVEN and ZODIAC are pretty much templates for the modern serial killer film. SEVEN has yet to be equaled, and as the years pass it becomes much more deep and resonant. Some people dismiss SEVEN as simply a thriller, but it's so much more than that. The discussion between Mills, Somerset, and John Doe in the car on the way to the final site is still one of the most riveting things Fincher's ever done. ZODIAC is a film about obsession, and the search to understand something that truly has no answers and cannot be ever fully known. Both are brilliant entries into the serial killer genre, and to compare DRAGON TATTOO to those films wouldn't be fair, as those truly felt like they came from a dark place in Fincher's soul. DRAGON TATTOO doesn't feel nearly as personal as those two films.
But still, DRAGON TATTOO does deliver. Rooney Mara is sensational as Lisbeth Salander - single-minded of purpose, extremely intelligent, and brutal when she needs to be. A date between Mara's Salander and Jesse Eisenberg's Mark Zuckerberg would probably destroy the planet. Once Salander and Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) meet, the movie is on rails and becomes a solid thriller. Mara simply overpowers Craig for the audience's attention, but Craig is quite good as well. As Blomkvist tries to decipher the mystery of the disappearance of a young girl 40 years before, the film is interesting, but it doesn't really catch on fire until these two meet.
I'm not going to rehash the story of DRAGON TATTOO here. The book has a legion of fans, and I can see why - the character of Lisbeth is a fascinating one and she commands your attention. But when it comes to the mystery and the controversial nature of the story, many moviegoers unfamiliar with the story may be shocked by the explicit nature of the material, but I've seen way too many films that do this kind of thing in a far more shocking manner. I will say that the film takes Enya's "Orinoco Flow" and does to it pretty much what Peter Greene does to Ving Rhames in PULP FICTION. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall for that particular song approval meeting. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross evokes dread and works just as well as their collaboration for THE SOCIAL NETWORK. These two make great movie music together and I hope that continues.
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO should do fine at the box office, and if you're a David Fincher devotee or a fan of the book I think there's nothing here you won't like. I'm not down on the movie - it's well made, enjoyable, and a good thriller - but I'm hoping to see another personal film from David Fincher the next time around. With the money and success that this should have at the box office, I doubt that will be a problem for him.
Nordling, out.
