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Saturday, December 24, 2011

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO FILM BY...

David Fincher, which is the American adaptation to the Stieg Larsson's installment of the Millenium Trilogy novel set. This is a mesmerizing tale of  intrigue, sexual violence, crime solving, cold case set in the freezing  winter in Sweden. First of all, let me just say that I am a huge fan of this director, who has produced such films as my personal favorites, Se7en and Fight Club (I highly recommend for viewing). Last year he directed the critically acclaimed, The Social Network taking us inside of the creators of FaceBook. Fincher has won numerous awards, as well for his cinematic creations. Currently the film has 2 Golden Globe nominations, one for best score and the other for Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Rooney Mara, who you will see transforms herself into the lead female character of Lisbeth Salander.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo's opening credits is accompanied by the musical score created by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross which is based on the famous song by Led Zepplin called Immigrant Song. I remember when I viewed this movie trailer, the first thing that drew me in was that score, and how it accompanies itself so well to the tale as the camera leads you down, a tree-lined snow covered road that ends to a infamous mansion. It was during those moments, I thought OMG, I have to watch this film and I could not wait!

The casting of this film is impeccable with the acting chops of Christopher Plummer, Daniel Craig, Stellan Skarsgard, and Rooney Mara, who I found out that she was the ex-girlfriend to Jesse Eisenberg's famous character, Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network. She had the look of the girl next door, pretty blonde and highly intelligent. The character of Lisbeth is a very emotionally disturbed, a lets go as far from the grain as I can, person with a multitude of layers that are only scratched at the surface within the first installment in this film. The transformation from butterfly neophile (social butterfly) to the extreme opposite a neophobe in which she takes anti-social to a whole new level. Here is a link about Ms. Mara. http://www.reelz.com/trailer-clips/49876/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-interview/. and her IMDb link http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1913734/.

Mara fills some pretty big Doc Marten boots, because the first actress to portray Lisbeth is Noomi Rapace, who is a incredible actress in her own right. Currently Rapace is in the film, Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, in which she aides the famous crime solving duo. I will be writing up a review for that soon. Anyways, Mara has to change her hair color, eyebrows, and dons the famous Dragon Tattoo, which honestly I am not sure if she actually got the tattoo for real. It certainly would be a permanent souvenir of her role. In my most humble opinion, Mara kicked some serious ass in this film and having watched the Swedish version, I feel she did just as stunning a performance as Rapace did. You will pleasantly surprised!

Mikael portrayed by Daniel Craig is a incredible actor in his own right having donned the famous character James Bond and can kick ass in any role he takes on. I just saw him in the somber film Dream House with the luminous Rachel Weisz, which was a switch from the action roles he usually portrays. So Mikael the male lead  is a financial journalist who works for the publication Millenium, and in the beginning tries to expose a corporate mogul without success and looses his life savings over it. Lisbeth incidentally runs a very thorough back ground check on Mikael for Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer), who wants to hire him for the task of solving the possible murder or disappearance of his niece, Harriet, who has been missing for 40 years.

Mikael of course takes on the case for Mr. Vanger and the plot is afoot. Henrik first takes him on a tour of the grounds in which the Vanger family lives. They are quite the talk of the town of Hedestad, Sweden. To get to the Vanger residence you must drive over a bridge that is shows up in a lot of scenes, because of its importance to the story. Right away when Henrik tells the story of his missing niece, Mikael is drawn in to its many  mysteries and intrigue. This family is no ordinary family, for it is full of many horrible and dark secrets by some of its despicable members. Right away I am pulled into the Vanger family tree and its members are introduced some times confusingly but I finally "get it" by the end.

Whilst investigating this cold case, Mikael decides he needs the aide of someone who can do a more thorough back ground checking of the Vanger family and wants Henrik to employ Lisbeth, the one of course who did his back ground check. The work together incredibly well, almost too well, because Lisbeth starts a sexual relationship with Mikael. I am sure as the other installments are adapted from the other novels we will see their relationship become closer and more complex.

Without giving away to much of the plot and its conclusion, I will just state that the cold case is solved and during so, it keeps you guessing and wanting to solve said case on your own. This film keeps you on your toes and leaves you wanting more. The cinematography was breath taking in its wintry cold scenery, the homes of the Vanger families, and the costume designs are impeccable. I was impressed and this film exceeded pleasantly my expectations and more! I give this film a 10/10 as well as its musical score.

I wish Mr. Fincher  and Trent Reznor best wishes in their nominations for the awards in which I hope they will win, but in my mind, they have already won in so many ways for me. 

2 comments:

MrDreknowsbest said...

Awesome review. I really want to see this movie and also check out the original trilogy.

Unknown said...

Thanks for that! I am now reading the books too. So far very interesting and I am loving the character development. Go see the film and tell me what your thoughts are on it.