World bestselling films are hard work. Such world bestsellers, which already exist in film form (and not bad at all), are even more difficult. The reviews of such films are terrible. It is inconvenient for a man to abstain from everything "before" and to look with fresh eyes, pure, and only to "now," without any comparisons and oppositions such as this-in-the-book-was-so-how "or" this is-one-to-one-with-the-front movie, "which is quite annoying. I had an enormous desire to write exactly such a paralysis-free review and, frankly, I almost got it, but unfortunately, though for a little bit, I still have to address the source material.
I'll start with the fact that the technical film is perfect. No one nowadays shoots the way David Fincher do - a real perfectionist who can easily get up to Kubrick the way he looks at each frame. The atmosphere is crushing - vision, movement of the camera, installation ... whatever and where to catch, everything is on an extraordinarily high level, including rhythm, acting performances and, of course, the music that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Fincher leads the story slowly and tightly, with no narrative peaks (I do not know whether he deliberately imitates the Scandinavian type of cinema or everything comes from the story) and the overall feeling is about a rather limited and almost entirely emotionless story in which even the climax comes equally and unselfishly and fails to bring true satisfaction. The biggest accent is in fact the starting inscriptions that go on the cover of Led Zeppelin and which seem almost out of place. I say almost because they are really strange, but in fact they contain everything interesting as sensations and emotions that the film has to offer us.
However strange it may seem, I personally think this is a plus for the movie. Plus, because this approach definitely works and gives a substance to the story that, in a different approach (when it comes to the "American version" of something that exists), it would hurt unpleasantly, as it is a real "pulp fiction" , with a not very original central mystery, slightly adorned with dirty issues of retaliation, dysfunctional family, corruption, rapists and Nazis. The only thing that distinguishes"The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" from most of these conveyor stories is the main the heroine Lisbeth Salander, which is really an extremely interesting image - fresh and different from almost everything we have seen in the genre so far. It is definitely the best image in the movie. Fincher and the screenwriter Steve Zeylian have managed to preserve all the controversial elements and nuances of the heroine - a brilliant young hacker with an extraordinary mind, but at the same time a self-contained, easily harsh soul hiding under his rude, antisocial appearance and conduct a heavy trauma from the past , the consequences of which they are pursuing with full force today. What distinguishes their particular Salander is Rooney Mara. Its performance is far more sensational and the feeling of wounding is much more noticeable, and hence the contrast with the outbursts of violence when provoked is also greater. My only remark is that Mara unconsciously (because of her physics) brings a little more sexuality that I personally does not associate with the image.
Unfortunately, Rooney Mara can not influence the whole story. The changes made by Zaylian and Fincher are rather insignificant and cosmetic, but in order for this film to go beyond its purely aesthetic qualities and become a truly significant cinematic production, it must have been bigger and far more. That is, to feel the purely personal creative interpretation of the novel. Of course, here comes the question if such changes are made, why not just make another film with a whole new story? This question, alas, does not have a single answer, but is a very serious issue, more complex than it seems at first glance, and we can not look at it just like that. But all that is said above defines the movie as "all style and no substance"? Well depends on which country you want to look at. From that of the central mystery with the murders and the rather boring problems of Mikael Bloomquit - Daniel Craig is doing pretty well with the role (that's all the other actors - Robin Wright, Stellan Skarsgard, Stephen Burkow and especially Christopher Plummer, who is just perfect) - or that of Lisbeth Salander, who actually has something to say, albeit in places to make it too obvious.
