The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

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. (15/01/2012)

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. (15/01/2012)

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. (23/10/2013)

David Fincher's directorial style is beautifully easy to recognize, he imparts it to every one of his films. Brilliantly crafted dialogues, musical score, uncompromising atmosphere. This film could have been made in a number different ways. Essentially, it is a considerably clichéd and well-known story about a serial killer, but in the hands of a master, it becomes a unique cinematic delicacy, where ordinary things are presented in a completely extraordinary and distinctive manner. In the end, it is a seemingly well-behaved and coherent film that is brutally eccentric and demonically precisely shot. I wouldn't expect anything less from Fincher. (05/06/2012)

If I compare the procedural ritual Zodiac and this sexless genre trap, it's clear that Fincher was doing a studio job. Nordic detectives are not cool. They're really weird. This version was unable to capture this at all. The investigation is secondary here, and what makes it twice as bad given that it’s Fincher - any pathological charge slips away here. The fact that the killer listens to Enya is a weak band-aid. Anal sex in the form in which the film offers it can really outrage only unbroken Catholics, and there were more places where I searched in vain for Fincher's contribution. Personally, I suffered through most of the film - and something tells me that if you don't know the book, some of the things won't make sense (for a detective story, the motivations of the killer and the detective are quite crucial, which are hardly found here). (11/01/2012)