94/100 (158 min, 2011)
Plot: Journalist Mikael Blomkvist is aided in his search for a woman who has been missing for forty years by Lisbeth Salander, a young computer hacker.
Director: David Fincher
Writers: Steven Zaillian (screenplay), Stieg Larsson (novel)
Stars: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara and Christopher Plummer
Men who hate women. Women who punish men.
David Fincher's take on Stieg Larsson's novel - which is and it must be stressed again not a remake of the Swedish film - is superior to the first cinematic version of the story in every way. I do not know if all those purists saying this movie was unnecessary are blind, but there is not one thing in Fincher's film that wouldn't be better than in Noomi Rapace's version. It is so good in fact, that I will wait to know the rest of the story until new movies get made and just ignore straight to TV efforts from Old Continent. Because the heart of this stories is Lisbeth Salander. And in Noomi Rapace's interpretation she lacks just that - a heart.
The intricate story is flawlessly told - this is Fincher's strength - he knows how to orchestrate all the elements in his movies - while the stories he tells are always complex, they are never too hard to follow. Because of the editing and clever timing there is so much happening in the film - but Fincher knows when to slow down to built appropriate tension. When I was watching the Swedish film I thought how great the story was - too bad the movie is so average. Now we finally have a movie worthy of that story.
Brilliant Alex who runs terrific And So it Begins has this fabulous series where he writes about things he loves in movies that no one seems to be talking about. Alex has kindly let me borrow this idea for my today's post which is the first one in the David Fincher event I'm organizing here on the site in anticipation for Gone Girl. Over the next two months most of the posts on the site - soundtrack Wednesdays, scenes of the week and performances I love - will be all about Fincher's previous movies.
