3 ½ stars (out of four)
David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the second film adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s
best-selling novel following the 2009 European box office hit, is a lean,
brutal thriller both highly stylized and remarkably economical.
After a brief prologue the film kicks off with a blistering cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (who
also scored the film) and featuring a wailing Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on
vocals. The movie builds off this initial burst of energy and proceeds to
rocket down its dark, twisted path at a breakneck speed.
I should admit I had a strong familiarity with the plot
prior to seeing the film, having only just recently watched the earlier Swedish
version directed by Niels Arden Oplev. Considering the popularity of the source
material, I imagine many others will have an even more intimate knowledge of
this labyrinthine mystery than I. Still, I was surprised to find how involving
the film was in spite of this, thanks in no small part to Mr. Fincher’s
impeccable craftsmanship and Steven Zaillian’s lean, efficient script.
Information is doled out quickly and in the fewest words
possible (and there is quite a lot of information to take in) but though the
film is briskly paced, it is never hurried. I imagine Mr. Fincher and his
editors, Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall, pared every scene down to its absolute
essentials, which says something about the wealth of strong material here
because the movie clocks in at 158 minutes.
Our navigator through this icy, depraved Sweden is Mikael
Blomkvist (Daniel Craig), a journalist for Millennium magazine who has been convicted of libeling a
wealthy businessman, Hans-Erik Wennerström (Ulf Friberg). Blomkvist’s evidence,
which accused Wennerström of financial and moral corruption, turned out to have
been falsified, leading Blomkvist to believe he was the fall guy in an
elaborate set-up. The damages from the lawsuit cost him his life savings and
the controversy forces him to take a temporary leave of absence from the
magazine, of which he is also a co-owner.
Amidst the fallout of the lawsuit, Blomkvist receives an
invitation to meet with Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer), an aging
businessman who lives on the island, Hedestad. Henrik wants to hire Blomkvist
to investigate the disappearance of his niece, Harriet (Moa Garpendal), who he
believes was murdered by a member of the Vanger family, all of whom live on the
island, nearly forty years ago.
Blomkvist is understandably apprehensive but the price is
right and once he begins his investigation it is clear he thrives on this sort
of thing. Daniel Craig’s Blomkvist is a hard-edged and determined reporter and
Mr. Fincher highlights the obsessive nature of investigative journalism. This
makes The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
something of a spiritual successor to Zodiac, Mr. Fincher’s 2007 film about reporters and police
who sought the identity of the infamous Zodiac Killer for years.
No less obsessive is Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), a
computer hacker hired first by Henrik Vanger to do a background check on
Blomkvist, then by Blomkvist to assist in his investigation for Henrik.
Salander is an enigmatic figure; there is reference to a history of violence in
her childhood and she proves herself more than capable of violence in the
present but mostly her anger simmers under a stolid and beautiful face of Ms.
Mara.
Because of her past, Salander is a ward of the state and
must answer to a legal guardian in charge of her finances. The latest of these
guardians is a despicable man (Yorick Van Wageningen) whose readiness to abuse
his influence over her reveals unspeakable levels of depravity. (Some
spoilers from here to the end of the paragraph.) The rape scenes are difficult to watch and Mr. Fincher does little to
make them more palatable. He is careful though not to push the material into
gratuitous exploitation, which is admirable since the story uses these scenes
less to confront the seriousness of rape than to set the decidedly dark tone of
Steig Larsson’s wicked world.
Even when the images onscreen are tough to watch, The
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is gorgeous to
look at. Over his past few films, Mr. Fincher has perfected an impressive
visual style and technical mastery. Shooting digitally allows him unparalleled
control over every shot. Notice how his use of color saturation can cast a
gloom over even the sunniest day or how striking and clear a scene taking place
in near total darkness looks.
Mr. Fincher has a close team of people he works with, which
results in an exceptionally focused film. New additions to that team are Mr.
Reznor and Mr. Ross whose score for Mr. Fincher’s previous effort, The Social Network, won them an Oscar last
year. Their music is versatile to Mr. Fincher’s needs; chugging guitars and
synthesizers drive the action forward while Blomkvist and Salander investigate
the case, and ambient noise ratchets up the tension in ways a traditional
musical score could not have.
I have a few minor grievances regarding some of Mr.
Fincher’s stylistic choices but I appreciate that he is a director willing to
take risks. (In particular, the ironic use of a pop song in one of the film’s
climactic scenes feels out of step with the rest of the film’s style.) I also take
issue with the development of Blomkvist and Salander’s relationship but perhaps
this is a point more for Mr. Larsson than Mr. Fincher.
These gripes are little more than nitpicking, however, and The
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an
exceptional modern film noir that arguably bests the previous (and very good)
Swedish adaptation. The Sweden of Stieg Larsson’s story is not a terribly
enticing vacation spot but for two-and-a-half hours David Fincher makes it a
pretty thrilling place to be.
- Steve Avigliano, 12/29/11
No comments:
Post a Comment