The story of "The Woman With the Dragon Tattoo" has captivated audiences twice last year - by Stieg Larsson Millennium novels and their film adaptations Swedish - and introduced iconic heroine Lisbeth Salander to the hacker. Now David Fincher's new English-language version is the challenge of bringing Salander to life while bringing something new to the table. For film critics, how well Fincher and his team fared depends on who you ask.
The Times' Kenneth Turan of the film looking very cold, writing that the combination of steely precision Fincher is Larsson and cold source material "feels, in a coals-to-Newcastle way, such as sending truckloads of ice to the far reaches of the polar regions. "Turan also takes issue with the handling of the film of Salander, whom he says is the heart of the franchise. Actress Rooney Mara "clear all of its director asked her," Turan writes, "but this film is cold, almost robotic notion of Salander as a twitchy, anorexic waif feels more like a stunt than a complete characters, and so the best part of the reason we care enough to endure all that battle is lost in distance. "
New York Times film critic A.O. Scott offers a positive evaluation of the film and his Salander. Of the latter he writes, "Ms. Mara gets its volatile essence and wonderfully beautiful." The rest of the cast, which includes Daniel Craig as a journalist and co-hero Mikael Blomkvist, plays "with professionalism and conviction." Film is not without its flaws, Scott says, many of which are inherited from the source material: "There is brilliantly orchestrated waves gays and confusion but also long stretches of ugly, hackneyed explanation to flatten the air." In the end, though, Fincher "phenomenal skill" and Mara a "magnetic" performance add up to something that is hard to shake.
Claudia Puig, USA Today, says the movie "compares favorably" its 2009 Swedish counterpart, largely thanks to its director: "Storytelling electrifying Fincher makes the most unsettling visuals, great cast, complex plots and sharp dialogue His fascination with madilim.materyal trained and technical skills that serve him. "As for Salander, however, Puig says Mara" looks the part in her Goth style. But there is softness in its portrayal that undermines the more destructive to works of the challenges Salander pulls off. "
Salon Andrew O'Hehir designated "Dragon Tattoo" "an immersive and efficient thriller, driven by terrific leading performances." The acting, he says, is a surprising improvement in the Swedish film, and "Mara is a manifestation of Lisbeth Salander ... now playing the character as more fierce and weaker than Noomi Rapace borderline-goth girl sexpot stereotype." But O'Hehir also writes, "When it was over I felt a wave of annoyance wash over me to reflect that we have two more to go. We really need a whole new series of films ? "
For Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle, the raison d'etre film is high quality. Fincher and screenwriter Steven Zaillian "do right by 'The Woman With the Dragon Tattoo'" by building it, creating a film that "is neither better or worse than the Swedish film, but The [is] more cinematic. "
The vanguard of Michael Phillips Chicago Fincher film calls "the most coldly compelling version yet" of the "Dragon Tattoo," but he did not see the point in revisiting its story or characters. It is "good chase" and "quite well done by a very reliable and talent," Phillips concedes. "But I thought [Fincher] has done this sort of thing."
If Fincher himself has done in the series remains to be seen. But to wait two more installments of the Millennium trilogy on the wings, the chances are we have not seen the last of Salander.
