The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Fincher, 2011)

Brandon Rice said:
I never saw the original movie, was it good?
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It was okay.

Lisbeth Salander is a very interesting character, but the story itself is a relatively paint-by-numbers murder mystery.

The most memorable and shocking moments of the film were just a sub-plot and didn't involve the main mystery at all.
 
Giriki said:
Ps. When will Americans learn to read subtitles?
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My eyes are rolling so much it's starting to hurt. This remake wasn't made for any other reason aside from money. I enjoyed the original for what it was (I'm an American and I watched it with subtitles, by the way) and I like Fincher, so I'll give the remake a chance.
 
We recently "blogged" about the original: http://badguyfilms-blog.com/post/5832998363/films-we-like-the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo

With this being a mystery thriller, not sure if I have any excessive desire to see the remake. They'd need to make a bunch of changes to the story to make it worth a second viewing.

I'm not a big fan at all of North Americanizing Foreign Films, especially recent films that hold up great on their own (other than the crime of having to read subtitles). BUT, if I was to ever choose to watch a remake over an original, Fincher and the cast make this an intriguing prospect.
 
The original film was a breath of fresh air last year. Well paced, excellent mood, beautiful cinematography, incredible lead performance; gripping mystery thriller. Unfortunately the direct sequel was pretty boring (until the end), and the third film suffered because of it (though it was pretty good overall).

With Trent Reznor doing the soundtrack (that his cover of Led Zeppelin in the teaser), and David Fincher at the helm, I will certainly see it. Just perhaps not in the theater. I'm pretty surprised that I'm even remotely excited to see a remake of an excellent film I just saw for the first time a year ago.
 
Just curious what other people thought of this movie now that it's out.

Personally, I read the books first, more than a year ago, they are excellent, much better than either movie. I tried watching the Swedish version of the films but barely got through the first. They cut way too much out from the book and I thought it was horribly mis-cast. I've never minded reading subtitles, but I think it makes it hard to make a connection with the characters when you have to read what they are saying instead of listening their performance, so that may have been part of why I didn't like the casting. But just the look of them was completely unrealistic to me (probably because I read the books first and already had my own opinionon everyone).

I thought the new movie was great, much truer to the book. They obviously had to take a lot out for time, which took a lot away from the story, but I think they did the best job they could. Soundtrack was great, casting was great in most cases.

My biggest problem with the movie was the dumbass that walked out during the rape scene with his 10 year old. Who the hell takes a 10 year old to an R rated movie without knowing what to expect. Especially since everything I've seen on the movie clearly says excessive sexual violence.
 
bhal1075 said:
My biggest problem with the movie was the dumbass that walked out during the rape scene with his 10 year old. Who the hell takes a 10 year old to an R rated movie without knowing what to expect. Especially since everything I've seen on the movie clearly says excessive sexual violence.
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Just saw it yesterday, and had two middle-aged ladies sitting a seat away from me and talking the whole time. Any time Mara took her clothes off, the one woman would say very loudly to the other, "What kind of movie did you bring me to?" "What kind of girl is this?" "I'm sorry, but I just..." It's like she wanted everyone else in the theater to know she didn't "condone" such things in movies.

Despite this, Dragon Tat was excellent. Not amazing, but that's mostly due to the fact I'd seen the original and also because the Se7en-esque mystery is a little more basic than I'd like. It's probably better in the books, but I couldn't get through more than a few pages of the first book, it was very confusing.

I thought Mara's performance really brought this film up a level. As powerful in the quiet moments as in the loud. Craig, also, did a better job than usual. Not sure why, but his character seemed a little more three-dimensional and fun than usual run-of-the-mill mopey Bond types.

-JMT
 
I really enjoyed the film as well, and I liked the original too. My favorite Fincher? Not at all, but it's better than Benjamin Button.
 
Haven't seen the original but greatly enjoyed this one. Rooney is definitely going to get an Oscar nod for her performance.

Kegan
 
Kegan said:
Haven't seen the original but greatly enjoyed this one. Rooney is definitely going to get an Oscar nod for her performance.
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She definitely should, anyway. Most of the predictions I've seen have her in the lower tier: lead actresses who "might" get nominated, instead of those who "are likely" to get nominated. A lot of strong performances from leading women this year.

-JMT
 
I thought the movie was just OK. When I saw David Fincher had directed it I really wanted to see it. While watching the movie I excepted more of a thriller like Se7en or Fight Club. The movie just felt to drag on to me and had a lot of characterization in it. Which isnt a bad thing, but for me I like more thrills. I guess I should have realized from the title it would be all about one character. I did really enjoy Rooney's performance and think she is a really good looking girl(out of costume).
 
Love the movie very well done...thought pace at the end was abit to fast but still think its a great movie.
 
Liked the Movie, nicely shot, great performance from Mara and the rest of the cast. Didn't like the tobacco industry (Malboro) product placement (feels like thtey financed the whole film!) as well as the lack of more shots from that wonderful motorcycle (the last one a joke :)

Felt there was a big plot hole on the film: SPOILER BELLOW

Someone sent those pictures/paintings to the old man. Weren't they traceable? No envelope, no registry in the post office?

Anyway, went there to see a good, entertaining thriller, and it was, as well as to see how a RED camera performed in a "regular" mid budget hollywood thriller. Looked good! Also a very, very big nod to the soundtrack. I sense another Best Soundtrack nomination, here.
 
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SPZ said:
Anyway, went there to see a good, entertaining thriller, and it was, as well as to see how a RED camera performed in a "regular" mid budget hollywood thriller. Looked good! Also a very, very big nod to the soundtrack. I sense another Best Soundtrack nomination, here.
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It was more than just a regular film with a RED camera. Read here - http://michaelcioni.tumblr.com/post/14725750331/4k-digital-intermediate

This is truly a major step in cinema. I went to see the film mostly because it is the first major film that went 4K end-to-end. And, my God, did it look stunning on the big screen. It honestly looked better than any film I've seen in theaters. The amount of sheer detail - impeccable. There is an MCU of Heinrich about halfway into the film, and all I remember thinking was, "Holy crap, look at the detail in his sweater! I could count the threads from here..." That sweater would have torn apart most cameras - I would wager that was one of the scenes they filmed with the Epic.

All that aside, I was not as entertained as I thought I would be. I thought the movie was too long - it definitely felt like a book trying to be a movie.

I thought the performances, casting, production design, cinematography, sound, score - everything but the story - were simply top notch. The story just had too much going on and too many pacing issues. I really love long films, if the story is great - part of why I adored Inception - but I found it dragged here and there. The ending leaves a lot to be desired. At least, it does for me.
 
I thought it was technically superb, and had a gritty performance by Rooney Mara. But I think as a mystery or suspense film it was weak and mishandled. Too many photos to track, too many names, not a good enough look at Daniel Craig's plan, even in motion. And with all the IT with computers, security cams, hacking and such, it put the audience even further removed. While it was appropriate for Mara's character to keep us away, that was a great tool, it is not appropriate to keep us away from trying to solve the mystery overall with Craig. To make it so difficult to track, with so few clues, it's all but impossible to even formulate a guess as you watch it. Keeping your audience out of participating in a solving a mystery was to me a mistake and removed the intrigue and suspense. Yes, I'm aware that most mysteries are bogus, like Hitchcock's McGuffin plots, but they work to bring us into the story and identify with the sleuth. That hardly happened to me in this film and I found it rather frustrating.

I should add that I know there are people that didn't care about this, and on a visceral level enjoyed it, and were tied in to the anti-Nazi dynamic. That's okay I guess. Just not for me.
 
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