The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Directed by: David Fincher
Starring: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Robin Wright Penn, Christopher Plummer,
Rated: R for brutal violent content including rape and torture, strong sexuality, graphic nudity, and language
From the incredible title sequence of David Fincher's adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, one immediately gets the tone, harshness, and masterful style of the film. Based on Steig Larsson's book and the Swedish film adaptation, this new version of Dragon Tattoo perfectly depicts the story better than the Swedish version; the script is more poignant, the mystery is much easier to understand, the characters are more interesting, the casting is perfect, and the crisp, digital cinematography is more powerfully used. However, it is also much harsher in it's depiction of post-western (or "post-Christian") view of Europe. While the sexuality bordered on non-titillating pornography and it's violence and gore as unflinchingly grotesque, the aspect that concerned me the most was it's lack of a moral code. Fincher's Se7en is brutal and graphic, but it's a morality tale and doesn't glorify it's grotesqueness. His film Fight Club is as harsh as Dragon Tattoo, but it delves just as deep into it's nihilistic philosophy, so it approves and glorifies the violence. Even the Swedish film of Dragon Tattoo forces Lisabeth and Mikael to discuss the morality of it's story, and define that some people are evil. However, Fincher's version lacks any moral contemplation, even when considering it's villains, which leaves the characters and their various sins rather undefined, forces good and evil to be defined by individual perspective, and rendering true justice unanswerable. In the end, no one is good, only because no one asks what it means to be good. Even gender becomes construed, depicting the masculine-like Lisabeth (a terrific Rooney Mara) as emotionally detached from relationships, morality, and life as her masculine counterpart Mikael (Daniel Craig.) While the film is well-done (minus the thirty minute ending) and the depiction of the hopelessness of 21st century Europe is spot-on, there is nothing good in Dragon Tattoo to celebrate; which is exactly what Fincher wanted.
Directed by: David Fincher
Starring: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Robin Wright Penn, Christopher Plummer,
Rated: R for brutal violent content including rape and torture, strong sexuality, graphic nudity, and language
From the incredible title sequence of David Fincher's adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, one immediately gets the tone, harshness, and masterful style of the film. Based on Steig Larsson's book and the Swedish film adaptation, this new version of Dragon Tattoo perfectly depicts the story better than the Swedish version; the script is more poignant, the mystery is much easier to understand, the characters are more interesting, the casting is perfect, and the crisp, digital cinematography is more powerfully used. However, it is also much harsher in it's depiction of post-western (or "post-Christian") view of Europe. While the sexuality bordered on non-titillating pornography and it's violence and gore as unflinchingly grotesque, the aspect that concerned me the most was it's lack of a moral code. Fincher's Se7en is brutal and graphic, but it's a morality tale and doesn't glorify it's grotesqueness. His film Fight Club is as harsh as Dragon Tattoo, but it delves just as deep into it's nihilistic philosophy, so it approves and glorifies the violence. Even the Swedish film of Dragon Tattoo forces Lisabeth and Mikael to discuss the morality of it's story, and define that some people are evil. However, Fincher's version lacks any moral contemplation, even when considering it's villains, which leaves the characters and their various sins rather undefined, forces good and evil to be defined by individual perspective, and rendering true justice unanswerable. In the end, no one is good, only because no one asks what it means to be good. Even gender becomes construed, depicting the masculine-like Lisabeth (a terrific Rooney Mara) as emotionally detached from relationships, morality, and life as her masculine counterpart Mikael (Daniel Craig.) While the film is well-done (minus the thirty minute ending) and the depiction of the hopelessness of 21st century Europe is spot-on, there is nothing good in Dragon Tattoo to celebrate; which is exactly what Fincher wanted.
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