The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

It's obvious that his film is a completely unnecessary contribution considering the two years older original, but that in itself doesn't detract from the fact that it's excellently made and once again highlights Fincher's mastery as a director. After Se7en and The Game, it would seem that he can't surprise with anything, but he makes another great two and a half hour detective story based mainly on interviews and collecting clues, and not only keeps the viewer's attention, but also perfectly imbues them with his dark style and pulls them right into the middle of that merry-go-round. He had already worked with similar material in Zodiac, but here he goes one step further, with not only excellent actors, music and settings, but above all a subtle and clearly defined theme with which he can work miracles. I’m not saying that he’s made a perfect or groundbreaking film, and I understand the lukewarm reception from the supporters of the Swedish original, but for me as a big Fincher fan, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was a great experience that I will remember for a long time. 90% (10/27/2012)

It’s not the Fincher masterpiece that we are used to, but book adaptations are never easy to (this time I didn’t have time to read it beforehand). The middle part with the investigation itself runs very smoothly, but both the introduction and the conclusion, despite being excellent, are a little cumbersome. The atmosphere of the frozen Swedish planes is nicely illustrated, precise direction as always and the hypnotic music of Trent Reznor. The cast is A-grade. Both Craig and Mara are perfect. A well-thought out, tense story. But don’t expect it to be the event of the winter. (01/15/2012)

Much better than the Swedish film, much more faithful to the book, with much better chosen actors... I didn't expect that. The biggest asset of Fincher's version (which is by no means a remake of the film, but a new version of the original) is Rooney Mara, who plays Lisbeth Salander. She looks much weirder than Noomi Rapace and gives a much more inscrutable impression, throwing completely irresistible blank stares - she's just great. Daniel Craig plays second fiddle, but he plays it like a virtuoso. The casting of the other roles is also successful without exception, I was very pleased with Robin Wright, and I was also impressed by the performance of the lieutenant Bjurman. David Fincher evoked a very gloomy atmosphere from the very beginning (the credits must have cost as much as a Czech TV movie) and didn't let it go until the end, whilst the screenwriter (unlike the one who messed up the Swedish film) managed to squeeze everything important into two and a half hours, not strangely twisting anything and leaving out only things I could have done without in the book. To deduct stars from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for being "just" a mere genre film would be silly. (10/23/2013)

An atmospheric illustration of a subordinate storyline from the novel; nothing more, nothing less. On one hand it is terribly little for Fincher (a special aspect of his preceding five adaptations of novels was that he always used his own interpretation and viewpoint, and Larsson offers much in this respect; too bad that he cut it down to this unimportant thrilleroid part), on the other it must be said that there are illustrations by nobodys and illustrations like those by Zdeněk Burian, which enrich the original story and become inseparable. And, in the same way that Craig is Blomkvist and Mara is Lisbeth (although an utterly different Lisbeth than Noomi), this is Burian. And yes, Fincher is still the same formal pedant under whom Reznor is growing into one of the timeless greats. Just Enya, removed of innocence once and for all, disappointed. (01/11/2012)

My slight disappointment stems paradoxically from my ignorance of the book, which is obviously not very suitable for filming. This is because the quantity of names becomes annoying after a while, although otherwise, Fincher does great work as usual in all other components, so we do get a great soundtrack (but this time it's too "off the charts" for the Oscar race:)), excellent cinematography (which underlines the pedantic narrative), and precise actors. But I'll definitely go see it again. The fact that the gardener is the murderer will soon dawn on even the slower folks, but that's beside the point. How we get there is the first priority this time. Fincher is the best director alive right now, period. (01/15/2012)