Had this lying around for a while, but I want to get into the habit of writing them, so here goes:
Before I
ventured on my regular Sunday night cinema session, I had come across a number
of different views on The Girl With The
Dragon Tattoo. Having deliberately avoided critic reviews, I only had
friends’ opinions and an IMDB rating of 8.2/10 ‘polluting’ my intention to view
the film from a purified viewpoint. It was one of those rare occasions where I
had not read the books (which I am ordering right now on Amazon), but, given
the obsession of today’s film industry with converting books into films, it was
kind of refreshing to be able to watch a movie without thinking about plots
gone wrong, missing characters, cheesy scenes being added and things not going
quite as I had imagined.
The movie
kicked ass. Yes, it was slow at times, yes, it could have ended 20 minutes
sooner, but this was a movie of subtleties as much as it was in your face. Apparently faithful to the book and the original, the plotline remained interesting despite the villain being quite obvious from the beginning. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is a good, somewhat familiar story being retold by an excellent narrator.
Fincher is a notorious perfectionist, and you can see that in every scene. His
direction of Mara, in particular, is astonishing. Her character is communicated
in an ever so subtle yet decisive manner. In her sex scenes with Craig’s
character, Mikhel, she is always on top, and makes it obvious she is there with
her own satisfaction as the end goal. Rooney Mara herself has given an
award-nomination-worthy performance, communicating a lot by saying very little.
Lisbeth Salander’s character is disguised in a veil of mystery, and Mara’s
performance lets you see through that; sometimes. We never find out where the
dragon tattoo came from – there are only fleeting glimpses of it, and Blomvkist’s
comment that he likes it after he spends the night with Lisbeth. We know it’s
there, but most of the time it’s concealed beneath layers of black fabric and
leather. Fincher only lets us look at it once every now and then, but he won’t
let us get too close, in the same way that Lisbeth does not let anyone get too
close to her. The only person she shows some affinity to, apart from her
guardian, is Mikhel. He happens to be the only one who sees and comments on her dragon tattoo.
The
soundtrack? Well, I am biased, since over the past few years Trent Reznor slowly
reached a godly status for me. So, yes, the soundtrack is great. I only wish it
could be louder at times, like the amazing hacking scene in The Social Network.
But, given how many layers of production this movie is lying on, the music
eventually is part of the whole, merging with the sounds of the whistling wind,
the dialogue and the dark colours that have been cast on the snowy landscape. Apart from the stunning opening credits, of course, but everything's been said and written about them already. It's worth paying for the ticket just to walk into the theatre, salivate over them and walk out.
As the
film finished, I was left feeling bittersweet. I enjoyed watching the movie,
but what seemed like wrapping everything up at the end suggested that Fincher
may not be coming back to direct the next two movies, if they still stay in the
pipeline.
