By MARK VAGELAKOS
The million dollar Girl with the Dragon Tattoo franchise recently released its latest endeavor: an Americanized version of the Swedish movie of the same name, based off of Stieg Larsson’s massively popular Millennium Trilogy books.
The movie follows recently sued journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig, James Bond) and anti-social Lisbeth Salandar (Rooney Mara, The Social Network) as they attempt to solve a 20 year old case of a missing girl in Sweden.
Overall, the addition fails to meet the high standard set by the industry. Unless the scenes were carbon copies of the Swedish version, of which many were, they were generally disjointed and lacked emotion.
For example, the scene where Salandar is introduced shows her as a simply rebellious character, rather than the extremely meticulous researcher dripping with sass as she is portrayed in the books.
Good luck on following this story to anyone who has not read the books or at least a plot summary. While the main plot is easily visible, many of the minor conflicts like Salandar’s elderly mother, which would develop character, are not included.
Additionally, the actors’ performances make viewers wonder what director David Fincher (Fight Club, The Social Network) was doing during filming.
Instead of giving insights to the character’s minds and lives, Craig and Mara simply go through the motions of the plot. Since the movies were so similar, those who have seen the original will find themselves constantly comparing the actors to their Swedish counterparts Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace who clearly outperformed Craig and Mara.
The film is somewhat saved by the intriguing plot, which seems less clear and connected in this version, especially in reference to Mikael’s “libelous” past, and its surprising retention of the vulgar and shocking content from the original, like the rape scenes halfway through the movie.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (American) is just another example of Hollywood producing a dumbed-down version of a superb foreign film for those too lazy to read subtitles. Anyone interested in the franchise should rent the three year old Swedish version of the film, available on Netflix Instant, or better yet, read the outstanding trilogy. 1 of 4 stars
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