Director Report Card: David Fincher (2011)

10. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Considering its status as a international best-seller which already launched a successful series of films overseas, it was only a matter of time before Hollywood studios made their own adaptation of Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy of novels. Pre-production on an American “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” actually started as early as 2009, before the Swedish films were even released over here. Trying to get David Fincher to direct this movie seems like such a natural choice, you almost can't imagine the director going for it. Gritty, noir-ish murder-mysteries with extreme themes are so far within Fincher's wheelhouse, he's almost too obvious a choice. Obvious or not, Fincher would sign on quickly and the movie was fast-tracked for a 2011 awards season release date. 

Mikael Blomkvist, head writer and co-owner of Millennium Magazine, has recently been convicted for libel after publishing supposedly false accusations against millionaire Hans-Erik Wennerström. This is when elderly industrialist Henrik Vanger hires him to investigate the murder of his beloved niece, Harriet. She disappeared in 1966 while a car wreck blocked off the entire island. Blomkvist goes about investigating the sordid history of the family. Blomkvist soon teams up with Lisbeth Salander, the mysterious computer hacking prodigy who did a background check on him. Together, they dig into the past and discover that Harriet Vanger is not the only dead girl in the family. Among the businessmen and Nazis is a serial killer.

David Fincher continues to have the best trailer editor in Hollywood. On the footsteps of “The Social Network's” award-winning trailer, came “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo's” similarly stunning trailer. Beginning with a gate opening, the audience follows the snowy and desolate path towards the isolated Vanger estate. This journey is quickly intercut with a series of split-second moments from the movie. The entire thing is scored to the driving melody of Karen O.'s cover of “The Immigrant Song,” which suggests the Nordic setting and adds an intense burst of dreary power. The same song plays over the movie's expressionistic title sequence, where computer wires, faces, hands, flowers, and the titular tattoo form out of black tar, among images that suggest the themes of misogyny and fascism the film will explore. Both certainly make a hell of an impression. 

As an adaptation, Fincher's film sticks pretty closely to Larsson's source novel. The movie even chooses to keep the location as Sweden, even though everyone is speaking English. It keeps a lot of the material that was cut out of the Swedish film. (Or, at least, the shorter version I reviewed.) It includes the cat Mikael briefly adopts while on the island. He travels more, meeting an obscure cousin of Harriet's in London. The surveillance work Lisbeth does is maintained. The financial problems the magazine faces are covered, as is Henrik becoming its sponsor. Yet the film also simplifies the timeline of Larsson's story. Mikael doesn't have to serve jail time in the middle of the story. Only his credibility is destroyed by the lawsuit. There's fewer leads involved in the investigation, fewer names to remember. It's a faithful but pragmatic adaptation.

The biggest change Fincher's film makes to the source material is fixing Mikael Blomkvist. The literary Blomkvist, too often, came across as wish-fulfillment for Stieg Larsson. Here was a super-star journalist, who could bring down empires with just his words, whose magazine is so important that it often makes national news. He's also completely irresistible to women, embarking on at least two or three different affairs. (Aside from the regular hook-ups he has with his editor.) Also also, he has military training that saves his ass a few times. The Swedish films sought to fix this by making Blomkvist into a sad sack. The American movie goes the funnier route of making him kind of an idiot. Oh, he's a brilliant investigator but he survives the attempt on his life by blind luck. Later, he walks right into the killer's lair. He's still sleeping with some beautiful women but he's played by Daniel Craig, so that's pretty believable. 

Casting the role of Lisbeth Salander was a big deal. Every waif in Hollywood was up for the part but Fincher ultimately chose Rooney Mara, clearly impressed by her small role in “The Social Network.” Mara had big Dock Martins to fill, following Noomi Rapace's star-making take on the character. Mara's take on the character is less impulsive than Rapace's, whose vengeful furies are more premeditated than spontaneous. There's a colder quality to her, more alien-like in the way she regards the world. She doesn't let her vulnerability shine through nearly as much. Rapace was as if the character step right off the page. Rooney Mara's take is a different interpretation and a pretty good one. She's compelling and strong-willed.  

Inevitably, Mikael and Lisbeth fall into bed together in every version of the story. The novel and previous film had Salander do this as one of those decisions that nobody but her understood. Fincher's film has the two hook up right after he's nearly killed. The sex is seemingly a way for them to mutually unwind. From then on, every time they have sex, Lisbeth initiates it. She is in full control of her desires, of this relationship. Moreover, Mara and Craig have strong chemistry, his quirky humor bouncing off her ice cold exterior in a compelling way. It's the first time in any version of this story were you actually buy that these two are genuinely interested in each other. 

Sadly, if there's any way Fincher's “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” is less compelling than its Swedish sibling, it is the mystery itself. Hewing closer to the book in this regard, much of the investigation is devoted to people re-reading old documents. Both Mikael and Lisbeth spend a lot of time sorting through the archives, looking at ancient photographs over. Digging through the details meticulously, they forge a history of violence via dedicated research. And it's only so interesting to watch play out. The Swedish film focused on interviewing leads and looking at crime scenes, which was a little more cinematic than Lisbeth sitting in a library and looking at piles of old photos. 

My biggest qualm with the previous versions of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” on both the page and the screen, was how it used women being sexually assaulted and murdered to prop up what was ultimately a pulpy murder-mystery. The 2011 “Girl” doesn't change the story. Lisbeth is still brutally raped by her legal guardian. She still uncovers a history of women being molested and murdered by depraved men. Fincher insures these reveals are as disturbing as possible. As the incident with Nils Bjurman begins, Fincher keeps showing a closing door and panning back, as if he's going to cut away. He doesn't. The resulting scene is incredibly disturbing and intense. If Fincher's film is going to cover these topics, he's going to make sure it's as horrible as possible.

Lisbeth's revenge on her rapist is as glorious as ever, paying evil unto evil in the most ironic way possible. Yet the film is aspiring to be a little more than a rape/revenge story. The remake focuses more on the connection between fascism and misogyny. The Vanger family history is littered with Nazis. Harriet's father and the eventual killer are revealed as serial predators that use women, kill them, and dispose of their corpses. One of them is a religious fanatic. Blomkvist's archenemy Wennerström is a rich criminal working to undermine the credibility of the free press. There is a definite link between these evils, the abuse of women operating as a part of authoritarian ideology. I wish the film made more of a point of this but it does the work.

Fincher, of course, works hard to elevate the material in other ways too. He directs the hell out of this movie. The frozen isolation of the northern setting is emphasized, the audience feeling the chill in the air. The urban scenes have the gritty, sickly grime that you've come to expect from this director. Nobody does this kind of thing better than Fincher. The surveillance footage of Lisbeth glaring into cameras, or the sweaty and sickly scenery as she takes her revenge, is so perfectly disquieting. The lair of the killer is shot in a sickly white, sterile and unnervingly so. The Swedish “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” had a hell of a climax, which the remake makes sure to maintain. The psycho killer's murder dungeon, the noose around the neck, the car chase and explosion are all shot and edited like gangbusters. Only an earlier fight scene on a subway is shakily shot and edited. I don't know what was up with that.

While this film is clearly a star vehicle for Craig and Mara, a very strong supporting cast is assembled as well. Robin Wright has a quiet sensuality and subtle intelligence as Blomkvist's business partner and regular girlfriend. Christopher Plummer could not be more perfectly cast as Henrik, an ancient patriarch. He approaches the long and controversial history of his family with a sardonic humor because it's the only way he can cope. Stellan Skarsgård is well cast as Martin Vanger, as he balances a charming side with a sinister undercurrent. Though the eventual reveal concerning that character is still a little too easy to guess.

Fincher's “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” maintains a lot of the problems of the source material. It's also too long, running five minutes more than the Swedish film, including the extended denouncement that puts every single plot thread to bed. This version does not feature a lot of belabored set-up for a sequel. Which turned out to be a good thing. “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” came out around Christmas of 2011 – the story is book-ended by the holiday – and sold itself as the “feel bad movie” of the holiday. Unsurprisingly, family audiences on Christmas vacation did not flock to a grim thriller full of graphic sexual assault and murder. While there was initial hopes that adaptations of “The Girl Who Played with Fire” and “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest” would follow, it was not to be. Both better and weaker than the Swedish original, it's still an involving film with some fantastic sequences built around an unforgettable leading lady. [Grade: B]