Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
By David Mortensen
The Visual
There is no way one could mistake this film for anything but a David Fincher picture. His signature color grading is in full force: sickly greens, bleak grays and whites, et cetera. Subjects you’d otherwise expect to get adequate fills are often left with reduced illumination. The result is a frame that makes the audience feel as though they too, along with the protagonists, are being “left in the dark.” Using these devices to make the audience feel unease is a staple of Fincher flicks. This one does not disappoint.
Editing
The film has a brief prelude, then launches into a bombastic, stylistic CGI title sequence reminiscent of a Bond movie opening. Images of black liquid solidifying and reconstituting shapes of objects and people’s faces are subjected to abuse that results in the black substance dissolving into pulp once part of a cohesive shape or image.
I did not care for this sequence. Going in, I had hoped that if the opening titles would receive their own special sequence at all, that it would resemble something closer to the opening of Seven: a stylistic open that conveyed an obvious mood for the film and informed the viewer a little about one of the more mysterious characters of the film. Instead, we have something that looks right at home in a Bond movie, which sends a very different vibe than this movie warrants.
There are moments early in the film which stuck out to me as cheesy choices for an editor to make in terms of audio. There were two or three incidents that almost elicited laughter from me. The only example I recall is a strange female scream that is heard as elevator doors close on Mara. This is not Mara screaming; this is a disembodied scream sound that I don’t believe was audible to the characters in the world of the movie. I understand why an editor or the director would want to use such a technique to communicate the frustration, anger, and anxiety Mara is feeling, but that use of a disembodied scream was just so corny, I started chuckling in the theater.
Score
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross join forces again to score yet another Fincher film. They range of their craft quickly becomes apparent when this score is compared to that of The Social Network. In TSN, the score featured heavy electronic influences, from digital synthesizers, to digital over-modulation and other distortion techniques. In TGWTDT, their sound is unmistakably organic in tone. There are times it sounds like Reznor and Ross utilize wind chimes, an a virtual symphony of other unconventional sound sources to make a haunting, foreboding score. Where the score in TSN was used mainly for emphasis in what would otherwise be a slow, talkie court deposition legal drama, the score in TGWTDT is more of a soundscape for the uncertainty the protagonists feel, and becomes a character in the film. As such, it is very easy to lose yourself in the action of the film and not realize the role sound plays in all the tension observed.
Performances
Daniel Craig does a fine job in TGWTDT. His character is believable. His lines hit the ear sounding genuine. He emotes. To call his performance “competent” would be to short-change him. He did a fine job. He did what you’d expect of him, or any professional actor. Were he not playing opposite Rooney Mara, I’m sure I’d be singing his praises. The problem is he DID play opposite Mara, and Mara stole the show. No one is going to leave the auditorium after seeing the movie and have the first words out of their mouth be, “y’know who was good in that movie? That Daniel Craig guy.”
Mara shows amazing diversity from TSN to TGWTDT. She can do action. She has comedic timing. She plays a character who is such a huge departure from anyone you or I know (certainly from anyone you might call typical), and she occupies that person with such a convincing presence, she has inhabited a roll which REALLY shows off her acting chops. When your acting is as convincing and impressive as Mara’s, it makes anyone who plays opposite her seem deficient by comparison. I won’t mince words. Rooney Mara is phenomenal in TGWTDT.
Recommendation
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a satisfying murder mystery, and a moody drama. There is one scene where our heroin is subjected to a vile act made all the more brutal by the way Fincher makes you feel like you are sitting in the room with her and being made to watch. The scene makes the audience feel about as helpless as Mara. I remember thinking to myself “and the editor will cut… HERE. Nope, still going. Ok, cut NOW! Wow, I get it. My mind can fill in the gaps. Jeez… how much of this are they going to show?” I am a jaded moviegoer, and this was a hard scene to get through. Once the scene is over and you regain your composure, you’ll understand why I am declaring Mara the Best Actress winner. Her performance is so real, it’s unnerving. Were it not for this scene, I’d happily recommend this movie to anyone who likes a good mystery or detective procedural. The scene I mentioned is the only reason I won’t recommend it to just anyone. It takes someone with a strong stomach, and a wide tolerance for unsavory imagery to both manage to sit through this scene, and to recollect one’s self and continue to enjoy the film. That being said, it was an absolutely outstanding film, with terrific performances, and a satisfying story. I highly recommend it (just not to everyone).
