Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) - Fincher's Nordic noir is technically astute but overlong and redundant

9/30/2015

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) - Fincher's Nordic noir is technically astute but overlong and redundant

♥♥♥

1 Time Film Excess Nominee:

Best Score: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross (lost to Cliff Martinez for Drive)

The slick, black and white poster for David Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

QUICK REVIEW:

Journalist Mikael Blomkvist has to leave his magazine workplace in Stockholm due to a libel case and finds an interesting freelance job in working with a younger female hacker at searching out the fate of a teenage girl, who disappeared into thin air 40 years ago.

Following the excellent Scandinavian adaptation of Stieg Larsson's 2005 bestselling novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo/Män Som Hatar Kvinnor, the first in his Millennium trilogy, Niels Arden Oplev's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo/Män Som Hatar Kvinnor (2009), it is impossible not to view this second adaptation just two years later by great Denver-born director David Fincher (Zodiac (2007)) as redundant.
Daniel Craig (The Golden Compass (2007)) and particularly Oscar-nominated Rooney Mara (Side Effects (2013)) as cool hacker Lisbeth Salander give outstanding performances, while Stellan Skarsgaard (Breaking the Waves (1996)) plays his Martin character a bit too pleasantly.
Fincher's visual flair is unmistakable, realized in fine, Oscar-nominated cinematography by Jeff Cronenweth (Down with Love (2003)), and especially the car scenes are handsomely shot. The score by Trent Reznor (The Social Network (2010)) and Atticus Ross (Blackhat (2015)) is quivering in its vivaciousness. The Oscar-winning, stressful editing by Kirk Baxter (Gone Girl (2014)) and Angus Wall (Panic Room (2002)) gives the film an impression of constant development, although the plot is stretched out on a playtime (158 minutes) which is too long, and we for instance have to watch what must nearly be an unequaled amount of cigarettes get lit. In Steve Zaillian's (American Gangster (2007)) script, we are far across the one hour mark before the Blomkvist and Salander plot-lines collide, which is far too long. After the climax, the makers also go to great lengths in order to try to weave the Wennerström plot to an end.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an alright film, but a far cry from the lean thrills of the first adaptation.

Related review:

2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo/Män Som Hatar Kvinnor (2009) - An exciting adult ride in sadism and mystery from cold cold Sweden

Watch the admittedly bold and awesome trailer for the film here

Cost: 90 mil. $
Box office: 232.6 mil. $
= Even Steven
[Dragon Tattoo's development began in 2009, unrelated to the Scandinavian film, and it was shot in September - December 2010 on location in Sweden, the UK and US. It opened to great reviews and a 21 mil. $ first domestic weekend. It grossed 102.5 mil. $ (44 % of the total gross) in North America. It went unreleased in India and Vietnam due to the strict censorship in those countries. Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK (18.7 mil. $) and Japan (15.8 mil. $). The film has made an additional 22.1 mil. $ on DVD/Bluray. It was 5 time Oscar-nominated; for Actress (Mara), Cinematography, Editing (won), Sound Editing and Sound Mixing. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is 86 % certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a 7.6 critical average. There is still talk of Fincher directing the second and third book in the trilogy as well, although it will likely never happen in my opinion.]

What do you think of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo?
If you have read the book(s) and/or seen the Scandinavian film(s), please make your verdicts known

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (5-24)

9/30/2015

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) - Fincher's Nordic noir is technically astute but overlong and redundant

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