The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Strong performance all round is let down by a poor directing. Skilfully directed movie never feels like a collection of separate takes jumping from one scene to another and this one is exactly that. In addition I found some of the scenes objectionable. For example it seemed to me the rape scene was unnecessarily too long and distressing, as if the director enjoyed filming it. There should be no joy seeing someone suffering like that. If the perpetrator was beheading someone would he been filming it that long?! Same goes with the sex scenes that were definitely didn't need to be over done to that extent.

Sadly, the planned trilogy will never see the light of day but luckily this, what would have been a first instalment, is a phenomenal piece of film-making capable to stand up to the scrutiny of its remake status and failed franchise label. Its actually all the stronger for not feeling as though it must conform to convention or wrap itself up in a neat little bow - instead leaving some strands dangling, waiting for a sequel that will never come - but still feels entirely intentional and wholly complete. The beautiful compositions juxtapose the picture's underlying darkness, with the two-strand structure dancing delicately around its destructive characters and contemplative detective work, and there's a real sense of an ominous under-layer to even the most innocuous of moments, moments which are never far from ones of pure, unrelenting evil manifested in unexpected but eerily true-to-life ways. Riveting, unconventional work. 7/10

The girl with the dragon tattoo (2011), based off a novel, and a Swedish film, is a very dark interesting film. It's full of disturbing twisted people and the whole plot centers around a family that did horrible things in the past. These bad/disturbing things are rehashed when a journalist (Daniel Craig) is hired by the family patriarch (Christopher Plummer) to solve a murder of a 17 year old female relative that occurred 40 years ago. Daniel Craig enlists the help of a state ward (Rooney Mara) to assist him in researching exactly what happened to this teenage girl. The plot/trailer combined with the stellar reviews is what attracted me to this film, and I'm glad I was attracted to it. First of all, the performances by Mara, Craig, Penn, and Plummer are all incredible and on point. Mara's performance should be especially recognized, gosh did she ever deserve that academy award nomination. Her character is so raw and rough and complicated, and she plays it wonderfully throughout. I 100% recommend this movie to all mature audiences. Notice I say MATURE audiences, the rape scene is graphic and is sure to disturb, keep that in mind if you can't take that stuff, and there are several other graphic sexual scenes with extensive nudity. Just keep in mind that this is meant to be a very rough dark film, due to the subject matter. 8/10 for the girl with the dragon tattoo.

Overall, I thought this movie did a good job of representing the major events of the book in a more concise way. I was glad that the director chose not make a 600+ page book that at times was hard to read into a multiple hour movie. Sitting through that would not have been pleasant. That said, given that I have read the book, I felt there were a few parts in the plot that could have been made more clear in this adaptation - namely the bulk of the investigation leading up to the climax of the story...it felt a little bit rushed to me the way they skipped out on what I felt was a more natural chain of events; instead they included a scene with a character that was not in the book to move things along.I did however appreciate the fact that the film toned down some of the more graphic scenes of the book...they were appalling to read, let alone be shown on screen and I appreciated that the point was made without showing too many of the gory details. I have to mention a few other things besides my commentary on the film-book differences: I really enjoyed the casting of this film. I thought it was superbly cast all the way around. Though admittedly some of my favorite characters from the book had smaller parts, I was still pleased with how everyone looked. And I can only chalk it up to the casting that surprisingly Daniel Craig's British accent surrounded by everyone else's Swedish accent still somehow worked. Also it is worth mentioning that the opening credits are absolutely amazing. I thought they captured the tone of the book so incredibly well and were mesmerizing to watch. I would recommend this movie to someone based on the credits alone, though with the caveat that this film, even certain aspects of the credits, is really not for those with a light stomach.