For a film with a 160 minute runtime, it breezed by like a 100 minute film, pretty much a hallmark of a David Fincher film with impeccable pacing, even though it covers a lot of territory and still manages to give room to develop the 2 main characters, Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) and Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), as well as the central mystery dropped in Blomkvist's lap as his professional career as an investigative reporter goes into the crapper.
Salander is a ward of the state who is an excellent hacker and investigator of her own, although she projects an alternative persona (aura of a gothy suicide girl) with a violent streak in her formative years. Salander's world goes terribly bad when her guardian suffers a debilitating illness, and a state-appointed shrink preys on her need for funds from her trust by subjecting her to coerced sexual acts.
Eventually Blomkvist and Salander are paired up when he is in need of an investigator to follow up on the clues and photos he's gathered as part of an investigation to the murders from over 40 years ago on the behest of a wealthy man, Henrik Vanger, who lives on an island with many of his rich relatives.
The opening credit sequences was a little over-the-top, but you won't forget it all too quickly.
Having seen the original Swedish version, it's almost impossible for me to not compare the 2 versions, but I think they are both very solid films, and I think I still prefer Noomi Rapace's portrayal of Salander, as Rapace had a more haunting quality to her portrayal than Rooney Mara, but I think Mara may have awakened within me a latent fondness for gothy suicide girls. (heh). I also think the original did a little better job of developing the investigational aspects of the mystery, but Fincher keeps everything moving, and has no problem heightening the feelings of dread and consequence as this story unfolds and our characters find themselves in perilous situations.
Well worth seeing at the theaters.
I give it 3.75 stars, or a grade of A-.
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