Revenge is Swede

As the world mourns the end of the Harry Potter film franchise, the start of a new movie franchise based on a popular series of books begins. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is the first installment of the Millennium trilogy by Steig Larsson. While these films will never meet the financial success of the Potter films, if for no other reason than its decidely adult subject matter, it can already boast something that none of the Potter films can, a Best Picture nomination.

The film is directed by David Fincher (The Social Network) who continues his impressive string of films. After delving into the cerebral world of Mark Zuckerberg, Fincher is back to familiar territory of gore and murder. He once again finds away of depicting the darker side of our human nature in a compelling manner. He manages to suck you in by focusing on protagonists who are just as, if not more so, scarred than the killers they are tracking. In this case, the film centers around two such protagonists; Mikael Blomkvist (played by Daniel Craig) and Lisbeth Salander (played by Rooney Mara).

Blomkvist is a discredited journalist who's been asked to investigate a 40 year old mystery involving the disappearance of Henrik Vanger's niece. The job offers him an easy way to escape the media scrutiny he's under after being convicted of libel. Salander eventually comes on as his research assistant. However, we spend significant time prior to their partnership learning of the hardships she's endured in her life that have manifested into her severe social disfunctions. Their relationship is unconventional to say the least but proves to be highly effective in getting to the bottom of this mystery.

This central mystery is the strongest part of the film. Through the course of Blomkvist's investigation we meet several members of the Vanger family, each with their own set of secrets. The fact that these family members hardly talk to each other provides makes them all suspicious and enables the audience to continue guessing as to what really happened. While the film does the best it can at keeping all of these characters straight and properly explaining their history, you can also see where this would likely be even more engaging in the book.

The one thing, however, that bugged me about the film was how oddly superfluous the Lisbeth character seems to the story. A good portion of the film's beginning is spent on her before she even becomes connected with the Vanger case. While it can be argued that this was done to establish her character, a lot of that could have been surmised simply by her outward appearance. It's clear from the piercings and titular tattoo that this is not a conventional girl and she's likely led a rough life. Why we needed to see, in such graphic detail I might add, some of these hardships was unclear. Furthermore, while she proves to be quite helpful in solving the mystery, it's likely that Blomkvist would have been able to solve it himself had she not been there. None of this would bother me as much if it wasn't for the fact that everything else suggests she is supposed to be the central character. Perhaps her centrality to the story is stronger within the context of Larsson's three books, but in this film her presence came off more exploitative that necessary.

While I struggle with that, I in no means want this to come off as a negative review. The acting and directing are great and the story is engrossing. Despite a run time of over two and half hours, the film does not "dragon". It briskly moves along as you try to figure out the clues along with the characters. I also like how they managed to keep the film isolated enough where you're satisfied if the other two books never get adapted, but left enough to make you curious to see where future films could go if they do get made. Though this is not my favorite Fincher film, nor his best, this is still an excellent movie and one I recommend. He's one of the few directors out there today who can consistently create a movie that will be tattooed into your mind long after you've finished watching it. Grade: B+