Fincher Remakes the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Faithfully)

For a while, Lisbeth Salander was like Scarlett O’Hara with a nose ring. Every actress claiming to be under thirty who was not in contention, should have fired their agents. Eventually, Rooney Mara was chosen to follow in Noomi Rapace’s footsteps. It was one of several odd choices that produced David Fincher’s surprisingly straight forward remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (trailer here), which opens tonight in New York (a few hours earlier than first announced).

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Lisbeth Salander is a difficult woman to get to know. However, the hacker for hire can find out all there is to know about anyone else—for a price, of course. Her latest target she actually finds sort of interesting: Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist just found guilty of libeling a controversial businessman. Based on Salander’s vetting, Blomkvist has been hired by retired industrialist Henrik Vanger to solve the decades old disappearance of his favorite niece Harriet.

Still grieving the loss of the teen-aged girl, the old Vanger finds little comfort from the rest of his ghoulish clan, many of whom were (and continue to be) open National Socialist sympathizers. With a large, ugly family full of suspects to check out, Blomkvist has his work cut out for him, but he will find an unlikely ally in Salander, once she has dealt (severely) with some of her own personal issues.

As fans of the series already know, Blomkvist and Salander soon suspect the disappearance of the Vanger niece is part of a hitherto undetected pattern of serial killings. Indeed, anyone who has seen Niels Arden Oplev’s Swedish Tattoo will find no surprises in Fincher’s remake. All the villains and shocking revelations remain exactly the same.

Frankly, Fincher’s approach to the material is nearly identical as well, delving into lurid family secrets to find grisly thrills. Nor does he shy away from the forerunner film’s two infamous inter-related scenes involving Salander and her so-called legal guardian. Yet, despite the cool dark vibe, Tattoo is not particularly Fincheresque. Compared to Fight Club and even The Social Network, it is far more conventional than auterist.

In terms of casting, Daniel Craig is a perfect fit for Blomkvist, looking like the slightly younger and more attractive brother of his Swedish predecessor, Michael Nyqvist. He is very convincing as the world weary journalistic everyman with an edge. In contrast, Rooney Mara is impossible to buy into as Salander. To put it bluntly, she looks like a horrendously made-up little girl rather than a grown woman, which might be in keeping with the source novels, but simply does not work on-screen, especially in her more harrowing scenes.

If you are going to remake one of the Salander films, Tattoo is the one to do. It features the most intriguing mystery that best stands alone. Wisely, Steven Zaillian’s screenplay downplays Blomkvist’s leftist ideology, but it also waters down the subplot involving the Sweden’s Nazi-sympathizing past, which gave Oplev’s version some of its distinctive seasoning. Still, when Blomkvist and Salander’s investigation starts humming along, it is easy to get caught up in the film’s energy.

Fincher’s Tattoo is certainly a professionally crafted film. Cinematography Jeff Cronenweth gives the film an icy grey look that perfectly represents Sweden. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s electro-industrial-ambient score is also eerily effective, largely establishing an independent identity for the film by itself. Still, considering how closely this Tattoo parallels the original, one wonders why they bothered to remake it. Critically miscast in a key role, Fincher’s Tattoo is a watchable but unnecessary remake. An acceptable compromise film during the holiday season but not worth standing in long lines for, it opens tonight (12/20) in New York at the AMC Empire.

Salander’s Parting Shot: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

It is unlikely this film will carry the AARP seal of approval. Few movies have had as many murderous geriatrics as the concluding installment of the Lisbeth Salander Millennium trilogy. Indeed, “never trust anyone over fifty-five” could be the motto of Daniel Alfredson’s The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (trailer here), which opens quite widely for a foreign film this Friday.

As the film opens, Salander is lucky to be alive. Shot in the head during a confrontation with Alexander Zalachenko, her abusive Soviet defector father, and her hulking half-brother, Salander owes her life to crusading leftist journalist Mikael Blomkvist. Since the incident threatens to expose the shadowy extra-governmental cabal protecting Zalachenko, a battery of wheezing geezer assassins spring into action to silence Salander. However, their best hope comes down to Dr. Teloborian, the pedophile psychiatrist who regularly abused Salander while she was institutionalized under his supervision.

Unfortunately, Hornet loses sight of its strongest asset, the dragon-tattooed fire-playing Salander herself. In previous films, she is always a paragon of subversive empowerment. Even in the first film with its infamous rape scene, Salander clearly refuses to play the victim. Unfortunately, throughout most of Hornet she is merely confined to hospital beds and prison cells, while Blomkvist rakes the muck on the insidious “Section.” As something of a consolation, Blomkvist’s sister, attorney Annika Giannini, finally has comes to the fore representing Salander in the pivotal heated competency hearing, after two films of merely shaking her head indulgently at her rabble-rousing brother.

A hard-core leftist, author Stieg Larsson’s politics were smeared all over the Millennium trilogy (so named for the advocacy journal Blomkvist edits). Arguably though, this gave a bit of a kick to the opening Dragon Tattoo, which delved into Sweden’s less than edifying history of collaboration with the German National Socialists. In the middle film Fire, the details of the meta-conspiracy were still so murky they never became a distraction. However, the more we learn about the “Section” in Hornet, the sillier it sounds.

Though they may have secretly tilted towards the west, it seems rather hard to believe neutral Sweden would have gone to such lengths to protect a Soviet defector (especially one like Zalachenko, who we are led to believe was a highly dubious source of intel), for over a decade after the end of the Cold War. In fact, Larsson’s trust in a large powerful state apparatus largely undermines the inherent tension of Hornet’s quasi-governmental cabal. All Blomkvist has to do is ferret out the conspirators and the tweedy Federal Security bureaucrats will duly round them up. It’s really that simple.

Of the three Millennium films, Hornet is also the least self-contained. Those new to the series should be able to follow the action, but will probably be confused by large cast of characters and their relationships to Salander. However, for fans of the series, it ties up all the loose ends and offers some satisfying retribution for all the wrongs done to her.

Though Hornet is the weakest of the trilogy, it has been entertaining to see all three films released in relatively short succession. They have deservedly made Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist international stars for their work as Salander and Blomkvist, respectively. While Daniel Craig is a credible choice to replace Nyqvist in the American remake, Rooney Mara seems a highly suspect stand-in for Rapace, especially considering how her performance has taken on nearly iconic dimensions. Frankly, she should have had more to do in the concluding Hornet. While still slickly watchable, it is not likely to appreciably expand the Salander fan base when it opens this Friday in New York at the Beekman, Lincoln Plaza, and Sunshine Cinemas.

Lisbeth Salander Returns: The Girl Who Played with Fire

America loves androgynous goth Swedish computer hackers. After topping bestseller lists as the protagonist Steig Larsson’s Millennium trilogy, Lisbeth Salander became a breakout art-house hit with the release of Niels Arden Oplev’s adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Following close on the heels of the U.S. publication of the third Millennium novel, Salander returns to theaters in Daniel Alfredson’s The Girl Who Played with Fire (trailer here), which opens in New York this Friday.

After the dramatic events of Tattoo, Salander has essentially dropped out of normal society. Grateful to Salander for clearing his name, Millennium publisher (and former friend with benefits) Mikael Blomkvist periodically makes an effort to find her, but to no avail. However, their fates again become intertwined when Salander is implicated in the murder of Dag Svensson, a young Millennium freelancer working on a blockbuster expose of human trafficking.

It seems Svensson’s story involved several people from Salander’s past, including her former court-appointed guardian, with whom she had a disturbingly graphic altercation in the previous film. Not exactly a warm fuzzy personality, everyone seems all too willing to accept Salander’s guilt, except Blomkvist, the perennial windmill tilter.

While Fire clearly establishes characters and issues for the forthcoming third installment, it is more or less self-contained, so viewers should be able to jump into it just fine without having first seen Tattoo. In fact, as a tighter, less explicit film, it might be more accessible for many viewers. It is also less overtly political, despite Larsson’s notorious leftist politics. However, Tattoo’s serial killer storyline rooted in Sweden’s sinister history of widespread Nazi sympathizing, was arguably a wider canvas with greater stakes at play than the more narrowly focused Fire.

Although Hollywood is gearing up to remake the Millennium trilogy, it is hard to imagine any other actors in the lead roles. Noomi Rapace perfectly captures Salander’s strange allure while also conveying the emotional maelstrom contained beneath her icy exterior. While much of the press for the Millennium films understandably centers on her, Michael Nyqvist is nearly as indispensible to the series. Like a Nordic Harrison Ford, he brings a salt of the earth screen presence to Blomkvist that keeps the film grounded for the audience, effectively counterbalancing Salander’s occasional creepiness. Good luck Daniel Craig and Kristin Stewart, or whoever.

Slickly produced, Fire might not match either the intensity or the unsettling explicitness of the first Millennium movie, but Alfredson still keeps it all chugging along quite briskly. Indeed, Fire is a solid, respectable sophomore outing for Salander, probably the most intriguing screen protagonist to ever wield a laptop and a stun-gun. It opens fairly widely this Friday (2/9), screening in New York at the Angelika Film Center, Empire 25, and Lincoln Plaza Cinemas.

Meet Lisbeth Salander: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

It seems like a cruel twist of fate that Stieg Larsson’s international bestselling success only came posthumously. Heightening the irony, the ardent Trotskyite’s literary estate has been at the center of protracted legal and media controversies. Yet a far more sinister family drama lies at the heart of Niels Arden Oplev’s big screen adaptation of Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which opens Friday in select cities.

Lisbeth Salander is a difficult woman to get to know. However, the hacker for hire can find out all there is to know about anyone else—for a price, of course. Her latest target she actually finds sort of interesting: Mikael Blomkvist, a leftist journalist about to serve a prison sentence for slandering a controversial businessman. Based on Salander’s vetting, Blomkvist has been hired by retired industrialist Henrik Vanger to solve the decades old disappearance of his niece Harriet during what little liberty he has remaining.

Still grieving the loss of his favorite niece, the old Vanger finds little comfort from the rest of his ghoulish family, many of whom were (and continue to be) open Nazi sympathizers. With a large, ugly family full of suspects to check out, Blomkvist has his work cut out for him, but he finds an unlikely ally when Salander reaches out to him.

Perhaps the most internationally prominent female character in Swedish literature since Pippi Longstocking, casting Salander was a tricky business. However, Noomi Rapace perfectly personifies the goth hacker, capturing both her allure and her creepiness. Though a mysterious figure, Rapace effectively humanizes her, which makes some graphic scenes involving her abusive parole officer difficult viewing. Still, her scenes are far and away the most compelling of the film.

The Vangers’ dark family history and the pattern of ritual killings Blomkvist and Salander uncover form a fantastic set-up, but Dragon falters during the follow-through. The film seems fresh and bold when candidly delving into the legacy of not-so neutral Sweden's support for Hitler’s National Socialism, but the plot ultimately descends into rather conventional thriller devices.

Michael Nyqvist has an appealing Swedish Harrison Ford middle-aged hero quality as Blomkvist, the libelous lefty. In a surprisingly sympathetic role (given Larsson’s politics), Sven-Bertil Taube also portrays the patriarch industrialist with memorable dignity and compassion. However, the film is dominated by Rapace’s riveting screen presence as Salander.

Dragon’s two and a half hour running time is more than a bit long, particularly since it is really a handful of sequences that define the film. Fortunately though, it is not fatally submerged in its author’s politics, retaining his leftism essentially as ornamental window trappings. Not for the overly sensitive, Dragon is a good but not great thriller. It opens in New York this Friday (3/19) at the Sunshine, Lincoln Plaza, and Chelsea Cinemas.