While the choices at the theater during the Holiday Movie Season are usually family friendly or mass-appeal action flicks, there is always one that is undeniably dark; last year it was Black Swan, and this year, it was going to be The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Steig Larsson’s Swedish-language novel has already enjoyed insanely high levels of popularity and a critically-acclaimed foreign film adaptation, so it was only a matter of time before Hollywood brought the story to an even larger audience. The names attached to the project were certainly buzz-worthy: Daniel Craig has had an upsurge in popularity since portraying James Bond, while critics were raving about young Rooney Mara’s performance, but the biggest selling point had to be director David Fincher, who last wowed audiences with The Social Network. The unconventional trailer and controversial poster had definitely split audiences, but in speaking to fans of the book series and the Swedish-version of the film, I admit that I was starting to get curious. Now, I had definitely heard of the book, but never read it myself, but once I decided to see and review the film, I thought it would be best to give the novel a shot…four days later I had devoured the brilliant 500+ page book, and I was positively ecstatic to head to the theater.
As someone who loved the book, there is little surprise that I enjoyed the movie, which is dark, stylish, and edgy, with genuine suspense and mystery, but I cannot help but feel like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo caters a little too strongly to those who have read and thoroughly understood the core material. Director David Fincher hits the mark once again, translating script-to-screen in such a brilliant way that you can still feel chills even if you are fully aware of every twist and turn from the book. Daniel Craig is an able investigator, but the star of the film is Rooney Mara, who plays the troubled Lisbeth Salander in such an unhinged way that you cannot help but shudder every time her piercing, unforgiving stare hits you. These accolades aside though, I feel like I only enjoyed the film so much because I had read the book; the narrative takes-off running, delving into the complicated twists (that I had to re-read several times) without proper explanation. Make no mistake, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo offers an unbelievably poor view of human nature, fully earning an R-rating, but if you can stick with it, you will be rewarded with a gripping mystery and stellar acting…the choice is yours.
Overall Recommendation: High
