Rent The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Excellent Murder/Mystery - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo review by GI

The 2009 Swedish adaptation of the bestselling novel was a fantastic film and introduced the world to Naomi Rapace who gave a momentous performance as the unique Lisbeth Salander. But it has to be remembered that that version was actually made for Swedish TV and the two subsequent sequels form part of a six part series which was later re-edited for cinema distribution in the rest of Europe. Their success paved their way for a purely cinematic vision of the story to be made and in the hands of David Fincher it proved a very good idea indeed. Essentially a murder mystery/detective story set in Sweden and Fincher was right to retain the setting resisting the temptation to move it to the USA. The titular girl (Lisbeth) is in fact not really the focus here with the story centred on disgraced journalist Mikael (Daniel Craig), who having lost a libel case is left jobless and penniless. He therefore has little choice but to take on an investigation for aging former industrialist, Henrik (Christopher Plummer) who hires him to look into the unsolved murder of a beloved niece who was killed in the mid 1960s. Henrik believes one of his nasty dysfunctional family was responsible so Michael sets out on his research but needs an assistant. This turns out to be an aggressive, possibly disturbed but the brilliant Lisbeth (Rooney Mara) who soon becomes indispensable. Fincher creates the dreary, wintry landscape of northern Sweden with washed out tones creating a dark atmosphere for the tale of murder which proves more ghastly than Michael originally perceives. Craig, in between 007 duties, plays a vulnerable yet dedicated investigator constantly surprised by events but quick to grasp opportunities too. Mara is superb here in a role she would have known would be compared to Rapace's performance in the Swedish version and she plays 'The Girl....' as more withdrawn, less angry unless harmed or threatened, and with hidden depths of warmth and love. It's a subtle performance within an unsubtle character and she should be applauded. It's a shame she was unable to continue the role in versions of the the sequels. In any event this is an engrossing mystery story, gripping, dark and at times very shocking and with some intense sexual violence that is uncomfortable to watch. The support cast are impeccable and include Robin Wright, Stellan Skarsgård, Steven Berkoff, Joel Richardson and Geraldine James. A first class crime story for adults and well worth a fresh look if you haven't seen it in awhile and if you unfavourably compared it to the earlier films, you maybe surprised at just how good it is.