The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Re-made films, whether English to English, or some other language to English, interestingly fair well in the 'translation'. We've seen this a number of times: "La cage aux folles" '78 to "The Birdcage" '96, "Planet of the Apes" '69 to the '99 version. Well, the same seems to ring true for "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo". This is at least as good as the Swedish '09 version.

This English-language redition of Steig Larsson's Swedish novel chronicles a disgraced journalist, Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig), as he investigates the 40 year disappearance of the niece of a wealthy patriarch, Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer). He is assisted by the unconventional, tattooed, pierced, punk computer hacker, Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara). As the story unfolds, we learn more about Lisbeth in that she has her own personal demons and other obstacles to cope with.

As these two work together in the investigation, they uncover overwhelming corruption beyond their comprehension. Stellan Skarsgard gives a good turn as Martin Vanger, Henrik's son.

This was directed by David Fincher ("Alien 3" '92, "Se7en" '95, "The Game" '97, "Fight Club" '99, "Panic Room" '02, "Zodiac" '07, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" '08, "The Social Network" '10) with such grit and painstaking realism, that in some places, it was difficult to watch what was happening on the screen, even though you knew this added to the character or situation at hand. I'm telling you, this IS rated R for a reason. This is not one to take the kiddies to. It was written by seasoned Steven Zaillian based on Larsson's novel "Man som hatar kvinnor".

By his very resume, Fincher is into intensity and grit. So basically if you like the same with a good deal of graphic situations thrown into the mix, this will be the flick for you, otherwise it will be a very tough sit. Forewarned is forearmed!

Out of 4 stars: 3                        Rated: R                          158min.