THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

Stieg Larsson's THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO has been re-imagined and repackaged for an english speaking audience. With the Swedish version still fresh in my mind ,  I was briefly thrown off course by a Bond like slick opening sequence that soon calmed down and the pace settled into images I recognized from the original.  Saying that from what I remember from the original even though it was well paced and well written ascetically it was a bit of a mess  pedestrian editing, washed out made for television cinematography and flat lifeless sound that left me thinking I had I just paid £7.50 for the Channel 5 film late night of the week. Enter stage right DAVID FINCHER yes he of ZODIAC, FIGHT CLUB, SEVEN, THE SOCIAL NETWORK and less we forget BENJAMIN BUTTON. The master of applying film technology to intensify reality and pad out a fairly nuts and bolts piece of Swedish  pulp fiction.

Fincher has answered the brief perfectly, taking a fairly reliable skoda and transformed it into a Ferrari 458 Spider. In steps Daniel Craig to fill Michael Nyquvist shoes as Mikeal Bloomkvist, a slightly over weight disgraced investigative journalist called in by a mysterious wealthy industrialist( Henrik Vanger) to investigate the disappearance of his niece Harriet Vanger who may or may not have been murdered forty years ago  by a sadistic serial killer of young women, (I will say it again for dramatic effect 'killer of young women') throw into the mix child abuse and a few Nazi sympathizers who happen to be family members and Sweden's sinister wartime past, a plot line stuck on with gaffer tape which needn't have been there an irrelevant plot point tacked on to give the film substance, note to director pulp fiction by its name informs you of its lack of substance thankfully Fincher was made aware of this rule and acted swiftly to address this infringement of big budget filmmaking rules, know Where was I, oh yes Bloomkvist (craggy slightly over weight Bond impersonator) Starts to feel as if he's chasing shadows so requests an assistant to help sift through the evidence. Enter Lisbeth Salander "How do you know you can trust her? "Bloomkvist asks to which  Henrik replies "she did the background check on you". But more importantly can we the audience trust her? Answer yes we can Rooney Mara is a more believable Lisbeth than the original (no offense Noomi your great in Sherlock) younger freakier and clearly unhinged she is damaged and we know it, many critics leading up to the opening of the film mentioned the relevance of the graphic sexual assault  of Lisbeth by her legal guardian and whether it should have been in the film? Answer again yes because the assault is the key that unlocks the abuse she suffered as a child (remember this is only the first act of a three act play) this anger later fuels her determination to crack the case, vindicating her mistrust for authority and those in positions of power. Her revenge scene may have been somewhat protracted and hammier than a pig arranging the bacon on the meat section at Waitrose,  but I guess its all about balance. Stellan Skargard (Lars Von Trier's muse) wins the should have seen that coming a mile off award. Joely  Richardson (who reminds me of the flame haired ticket teller at my local Cornerhouse) who's characters significants becomes more apparent as the story develops so I wont give too much away about her character as I don't want to kill the film for you that said its Lisbeth's film Mara powers her way through Tank girl like dragging along her aging sluggish sidekick while holding the narrative together. The somewhat final revenge scene exacted on Wennerstrom (shades of The talented Mr Ripely) seemed bolted on baring no relation to the film we just watched but remember what I said about the three act play this is just the set up for the next installment.