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Director: David Fincher
Stars: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Christopher Plummer
Plot: A journalist is given the task of investigating a girl’s disappearance forty years previously, with help from a troubled computer hacker.

There’s a particular snobbery among critics that comes to the fore when a Hollywood studio announces it’s going to remake a well-known foreign film. There is good reason to be cynical though, such is the extensive roll-call of rather dubious movie entries that have been ‘re-imagined’. Chloe (2009), Nine Months (1995), The Lake House (2006) and Swept Away (2002) should really have been left alone as originals in their respective countries. However, adaptations such as The Magnificent Seven (1960) prove that, with the right combination of director, script and casting, it can be successful.

Mikael Blomkvist (Craig), a Swedish journalist, has just been disgraced in court having lost a libel case against businessman Hans-Erik Wennerström, about whom Blomkvist had written an article for the Millenium magazine, accusing Wennerström of being crooked. Lisbeth Salander (Mara), a researcher and computer hacker working for Henrik Vanger (Plummer), has completed a very detailed background check on Blomkvist as Vanger would like him to work on his behalf. The job is two-fold: to write Vanger’s memoirs and by using this information, to discover what happened to his niece Harriet, who disappeared in mysterious circumstances around 40 years before.

Salander is a ward of the state and is deemed to have mental incompetency – her guardian has a stroke but his replacement, lawyer Nils Bjurman (Yorick van Wageningen), manipulates Lisbeth in exchange for money, eventually raping her – unaware that she has taped the whole thing. She exacts her revenge by turning the tables on him, threatening to release the video on the internet if he doesn’t meet her financial demands. Meanwhile, Blomkvist arrives at the Vanger estate in Hedestad where he meets various members of the family including Henrik’s nephew Martin (Stellan Skarsgård) and discovers a strong Nazi connection among the Vangers, which may prove significant. As Blomkvist and Salander join forces, they must not only break through the Vanger’s wall of silence, but also fight their personal demons along the way.

In The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, David Fincher’s Sweden is a dark, brooding and unforgiving place, echoing Stieg Larsson’s novel and similar to Niels Arden Oplev’s original film. The opening credits sequence is visually and audibly arresting – almost James Bond-like – and set the stylish tone. The use of Karen O’s cover of Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song, perfectly sums up the juxtaposition of past and present, which really taps into the essence of the movie without even trying. Purists and die-hard fans of the Swedish version will argue that this is an unnecessary remake, which adds very little. True, the vast majority of the scenes are very similar to its previous incarnation, but many of the rough edges are smoothed over and the plot actually makes more sense when you’re able to concentrate more on absorbing the characters and plot, instead of paying most attention to the subtitles.

Daniel Craig retains his English accent, while all those around him tend to employ Swedish twang, some of which is reminiscent of Jamie Lee Curtis’ deliberate clunky Scandinavian dialect in Trading Places (1983). However, this does not detract from what is a superb performance from Craig, which demonstrates that there is still much to his career beyond Bond. Rooney Mara’s Lisbeth is different from Noomi Rapace’s interpretation – there is a more rounded, clinical character which is more accessible than the latter, although Rapace exudes much more rawness that some would argue is needed in the role but is lacking here. The supporting cast is fantastic, especially Plummer and Skarsgård, both of whom fit into their roles easily. Those with a keen TV eye will spot Goran Visnjic (Luca from ER) and Alan Dale (Neighbours’ Jim Robinson), who only have a few lines each, but it’s good to see them both in a film far removed from their respective comfort zones.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo doesn’t add anything dramatically different to what we’ve seen before, but this is actually a very welcome interpretation of Larsson’s famous novel and will be a new, sub-franchise whose next instalment we can actually look forward to.

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