The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

[wilder]

David Fincher and cast on Charlie Rose

[RegularKarate]

I liked this a good deal, but I have to admit I was a tad disappointed.  We've seen Fincher do much better work.

It's got a Fincher look and feel, but the screenplay just doesn't quite do it for me.  I haven't read the book, but this movie reeked of a script that was desperate to adhere to the source material... so much that I can imagine what was lost in the transfer.

I'm looking forward to seeing where this trilogy goes, but I hope to see Fincher focus on something else first.

I think my Fincher list goes:

Zodiac
Se7en
The Social Network
Fight Club
The Game
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Panic Room
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Alien³

[Ghostboy]

It really, really felt like a TV pilot to me. An awesome one, for a series I'd definitely keep watching, but still - very small screen in its scope. The opening credits set the stage for this perfectly. Amazing TV-series credits, but not the type of credit sequence I'd expect out of a movie.

Thus, I definitely want to see the next two Fincher movies (I don't know if I'll watch the Swedish ones, just because I don't know if I care THAT much. Plus it was really nice to go into this blind, not knowing a thing about the plot) but like RK I'd rather see him do something else first.

I'd put this above The Game but below just about everything else (I love the workprint of Alien 3 - a lot). Also, still no love for Panic Room? I watched it again the other day and still find it awesome. Great, great filmmaking.

[©brad]

Has Fincher said he definitely plans on directing the rest of the trilogy?

Also how violent is this compared to his other stuff? I might see this with mom but she's a little squeamish violence-wise. She did love the books so I assume she knows what she's in for.

[RegularKarate]

still no love for Panic Room? I watched it again the other day and still find it awesome. Great, great filmmaking.

I'm actually going through his filmography in order right now and I'm just about to rewatch Panic Room.  I remember liking it.  There's a big drop in quality between Panic Room and Benjamin Button on my list so don't take that as me hating Panic Room.

Also how violent is this compared to his other stuff? I might see this with mom but she's a little squeamish violence-wise. She did love the books so I assume she knows what she's in for.

I wouldn't take my mom to go see this, personally.  There's not a TON of violence, but the violence that there is is pretty brutal... especially the sexual violence.

[max from fearless]

It's a good movie, but it doesn't feel like a Fincher movie to me. Sure, it looks likes one, sounds like one, but deep down, nothing stirs. It's missing that emotional violence that you find in his other pictures and strikes me as the serial killer movie, the director of Se7en and Zodiac didn't have to do. Remember Fincher talking about loving Se7en because it didn't end with the killer coming through the window to get Gwyneth and Mills and Somerset showing up at the last minute to save the day, well this one kinda ends that way. Now, obviously it's the script but I expect better from Fincher, and found the movie to be a disappointment and not as different from the Swedish version as I would've liked.

It's a shame because all the actors give strong performances, especially Rooney Mara, the score is amazing and the visuals (aside from some dodgy looking green/blue screen) are top notch as we'd expect.

And thus, my Fincher list currently looks like this:

Se7en
Fight Club
Zodiac
The Social Network
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Game
Panic Room
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Alien3

[Figure 8]

I really enjoyed this, especially taking it for what it is--a pulpy mystery that doesn't really strive to be more than entertainment.  My only problem with it was the very large amount of arbitrary information the audience is presented with, especially (spoilers) the relationship between Mikael and Lisbeth, as well as the majority of Lisbeth's back story.  It doesn't seem to actually bear any weight on the story of this film, but my assumption is that much of it comes into play and actually makes a difference in the rest of the trilogy.  But with the 2hr. 40min. run-time, it made me wonder if a little bit of the fat could've been trimmed, as there was quite a bit of space before the story starts, and then even more after it ends.

The story/movie is problematic in that it wants to be pro-feminist by featuring an ideal woman who is so obviously invented, adapted for the screen, and directed by men.

I find this comment really interesting, and I was thinking about it after I saw the movie.  I don't disagree--(again, spoilers) the scene where Lisbeth goes to have sex with Mikael is as much of a manifestation of a male fantasy as anything else, but I didn't think the movie was actually trying to make any sort of feminist statement.  Yes, the personal is political, etc., and so this movie is making a statement, but I don't think that was its intention.  The main character is the man, and as much as Lisbeth proves that she is just as, if not more, powerful than him, it is really his narrative that gets the most attention, even though Lisbeth is the character we walk out of the movie remembering.  All I'm saying is, while I don't think the movie is hugely anti-feminist (it's certainly not a worse perpetrator than most movies out there), it's not pro-feminist, either.  I just don't think it ever considered the question in the first place.

As a side-note, did anyone else totally cringe when Lisbeth said, "...and there will be blood"?

[Ravi]

4K DI Workflow on this film

[Reel]

David Fincher and cast on Charlie Rose

Thank you! but that was such a clusterfuck. I would've preferred to just see an interview with Fincher, Mara, and Craig. Rooney Mara just keeps making Charlie look stupid, she really didn't want to be there. Christopher Plummer was the best part.

[SiliasRuby]

After comparing and contrasting the sweedish film and this one I can't help but love the remake more. Maybe its because I have a undying love for Fincher that I will never shake. The performances of the girl are different. One is not better than the other. I just hope this won't define Rooney's career so much that she'll get typecasted. Although, if she does two more with Fincher she just might.

Its not fincher's best and its not my favorite of his but its certainly really solid and entertaining in the best way. I believe that this is Fincher's ulterior motive for a cash grab. He's gonna make a bundle off of this trilogy and I couldn't be more proud of him

The original gave more of Lisbeth's backstory and I'm sure if we get the american sequel we will get more of Lisbeth's backstory then.

There are some differences to both films but they don't matter all THAT much. Although, it makes you feel differently about some minor characters. There are some scenes that seem to be created beat by beat.

The endings to the two films are also slightly different.

Its really a beautiful thriller and I am infatuated with it, almost too much.

I don't want to say any more than that in fear that I will spill the beans. but go see this asap.

[diggler]

Spoilers:

I loved a lot of the minor visual flourishes, like Lisbeth driving the motorcycle through the tunnel in between all the cars, and the dolly shots in the hall of records.  I also really appreciated how good Fincher was at establishing the locations throughout the island, almost too good in fact, as this version of the film gave away the villain much more obviously than the earlier version, mostly due to what the camera was telling us.  (hey, let's do a nice sweeping shot of the location of the finale!)

There are a lot of subtle things that I enjoyed mostly due to knowing the source material, but the mood of this film was much more dour than the book and other film version.  Once Lisbeth and Mikael meet, it seemed like a breathless sprint to that basement scene. Their sex scene was almost laughably unearned, and the film glossed over a lot of the investigative elements that I found interesting in the book. In this version she just sort of sails in and knows everything already.  

Aside from these flaws though, Fincher deserves a lot of credit for being so restrained stylistically with such dense source material. I hope he does the other two films, as the ending of this film screamed with his intention to do so. I'll echo what Ghostboy said that it felt like a really good TV pilot that I didn't want to stop watching. Some people groaned at the long epilogue but I would have been just fine sitting through this story for another two and a half hours.

[©brad]

I liked it! I agree with the consensus that it's not his best but I think I liked it more than most. Like GB I went in blind, having actively avoided the books and previous films (just always skeptical of anything that widely popular). It was a lot of fun and I can't wait for the next two.

The story/movie is problematic in that it wants to be pro-feminist by featuring an ideal woman who is so obviously invented, adapted for the screen, and directed by men.

Yeah but such is the case with any super hero character. Remember she's a fantasy for women too. There were middle-aged soccer moms cheering for her at my theater (in South Carolina no less) and how often do women get to do that in a mainstream hollywood movie these days. I don't necessarily disagree with your larger point, I just don't find it as problematic.

[socketlevel]

One of the most sophisticated love stories I've seen in a while, especially considering how little screen time was devoted to it.

here is my list:

Zodiac
The Game
Se7en
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Panic Room
The Social Network
Fight Club
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Alien3

[Alexandro]

I went with kind of low expectations for some reason and I was surprised at how much I liked it. Everyone around here seems to be saying: "I liked it, but I didn't". But I think it's going to hold up pretty well as the years go by. Fincher is in complete control, so much so that he can do absurd things like the sex scene and make them work. He really turns this grim, ugly story into a fun ride where everything works.

I usually love when the best filmmakers are in the middle of their career high point doing all sorts of personal films and then dive in with passion on a genre film (like Scorsese in Cape Fear), the results are usually fantastic, and to me this was no exception.

Rooney Mara was terrific.

[polkablues]

Fincher does his best, Craig and Mara are both great, and it's overall a step above the Swedish version, but it still failed to solve the central problem of the material, which is the inherently uncinematic nature of most of the investigation.  A story where most of the plot drivers involve scrolling through old photographs and news articles simply doesn't lend itself to being filmed.  Fincher is such a master craftsman that he does it better than most could, but he still can't escape the flaws built into the source material.