They Come from the Land of the Ice and Snow

It's not often that one can find a character driven mystery thriller that works on both levels. David Fincher has achieved this, though, with his adaptation of the best-selling novel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The film follows journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) as he investigates the murder of a young girl nearly 40 years ago. As he continues to investigate the victim's family, and comes closer to an end, he enlists the help of Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), a computer hacker in need of money, and attention. The two are set off on a path that leads them into a grotesque world of odd family values, and secrets that may end up killing both of them.

The film is not so much a murder mystery as it is a study into the mind of a disturbed, lonely, and misunderstood 20-something hacker; someone without a place to truly call home, or people to call friends. She is continually surrounded by men whom she cannot trust on any level. She wears her piercings and tattoos like battle scars; each one reminding her of wounds that have taken far too long to heal. Many have argued that the film's rape scene takes too long to end. While it is graphic, it is also necessary. In order to understand Lisbeth's motives, we need to know what drives her throughout the film. The scene doesn't just make us hate the character who commits the crime, but understand Lisbeth, and because of that, we are not shocked at her actions in the scenes following. Even towards the film's end, when she craves the satisfaction she has never quite had the chance at, her opportunity is taken away. Later, we yearn for her to find peace, only for it to be thrown away like trash (figuratively and literally). This is a complex character that can't be fully understood, but can be appreciated.

Fincher is a very meticulous director. While The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is based off a best selling novel, Fincher is able to bring his own style into the story, and place his own touch on these characters. He's a director who loves to play with camerawork; one of his favorite shots being a close up from behind a character's head. Instead of focusing on character's faces, he'll focus on something considered otherwise insignificant: an earring, the way one scratches their head, the smoke from a cigarette. It's an effective way of drawing us into the characters more than we could have been otherwise.

Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig talking murder over coffee and cigarettes.

In his second stab at score composing for a major motion picture, Trent Reznor once again hits all marks, as he did with last year's Fincher flick, The Social Network. His score is haunting and beautiful, much in the way Lisbeth is throughout the film. He is able to capture the moods of scenes so well, and I look forward to his further collaborations not just with Fincher, but other Hollywood directors as well.

The film keeps a steady pace throughout. The first hour or so is well conceived and executed, as it cuts back and forth between Lisbeth and Mikael, that it works not only to advance the story, but also draw us in to these two characters as they dance around, and toward, each other. However, this does present the film's most lingering issue, and that is the development of its secondary characters. While Mikael and Lisbeth are both fully fleshed out, it makes the more insignificant characters suffer a bit. Many of them do not need much development, but I wanted to know more about the family members Mikael and Lisbeth were investigating. I wanted to learn more about Henrik and Martin as Mikael went deeper into their past. When the film gets to its twist climax, it's not as powerful as it probably could have been.

Despite that, however, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a terrific thriller, and even better adaptation. It makes us realize that the procedures of a murder investigation, which has lately been the backdrop of a myriad number of television dramas (most of them routine cop shows), can make for a compelling, dark, character-driven film, unlike many we've seen for some time.

A-