Director: David Fincher
Screenplay: Steve Zallian
Starring: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Robin Wright, Yorick van Wageningen, Goran Visnjic, Embeth Davidtz, Joel Kinnaman, Elodie Young, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgård, Steven Berkoff, Joely Richardson
One-sentence summary: Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander attempt to solve the case of Harriet Vanger, a 16-year-old girl who has been missing for nearly 40 years.
Review: There's no denying that Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy has become something of a publishing phenomenon. Sure, it's no Harry Potter, but publishers are always ecstatic when something comes along that makes people run out and buy books. It's also something slightly confusing for the more discerning reader because The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is not that great of a book. In fact, it's actually very boring until about halfway in when Blomkvist and Lisbeth finally meet each other and Lisbeth becomes involved in the Harriet Vanger case. Up until that moment, the Lisbeth vignettes are far more exciting than seeing Blomkvist traipse around haphazardly trying to come up with leads of any kind. You remember the scenes concerning Lisbeth's horrifying "experiences" with her new guardian more than scenes of Blomkvist taking care of a cat. (If there is ever any type of scene to make an audience deathly quiet, it's a rape scene. And there's two of them in here!)
Thankfully, David Fincher and Steve Zallian mitigate the boredom of Blomkvist's investigation by rushing through all of the introductory fluff. It's actually almost too fast. Your head spins when Blomkvist gets a hurried overview of the Vanger clan, and unlike the novel, you don't exactly get the luxury while you're in the theater of re-reading passages and trying to figure out how everyone is related (plus there's that handy family tree in the book).
Ultimately (and much like the novel), the Harriet Vanger mystery doesn't matter nearly as much as the relationship between Blonkvist and Lisbeth. In this sense, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is very much your basic superhero origin story. Origin stories are always a bit of a slog to get through, but once you do, the sequels tend to be far more enjoyable because there's no set up, no universe to establish; you hit the ground running.
If I'm being honest, I think I may never need to re-read the novel because this particular adaptation is just so good. Even with the flaws I mentioned above (which is a result of Larsson's writing more than anything else), it really is the best possible way to bring you into Larsson's series without making you sit through more useless fluff than necessary. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is absolutely stellar and sets the mood beautifully. Zallian alters the ending in such a way that it didn't feel overdone or dragged out like in the novel and it's certainly not as random as the Swedish adaptation, and I actually think Zallian improved the ending. It's a welcome change.
Zallian also tones down Blomkvist's womanizing ways, which is refreshing but unintentionally reveals Blomkvist to be rather boring. That's okay; ultimately, the Millennium Trilogy is all about Lisbeth. And let me tell you: Rooney Mara brings Lisbeth to life. The inevitable comparisons between her and Noomi Rapace will never cease, but that's only to be expected. Both actresses bring something a little something different to their portrayals, and neither is inherently superior than the other in my opinion. Would it be too much to expect an Oscar nomination for Rooney Mara? Probably. But I would be pleased to see her get the recognition she deserves.
Final word: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the best possible version of Larsson's novel thanks to some smart writing decisions that improve on the source material, and given that the next two novels are even better than the first one, anyone who's a fan should be eager to see what David Fincher and Steve Zallian do with the next two films.
