It’s now remade in Hollywood by David Fincher, and the very dark material is right up his alley as he has done similarly edgy films like “Se7en” and “Zodiac”. The script is written by Steven Zaillian (“Schindler’s List”, “Gangs of New York”) who made sure it’s not just a clone of the first version. Both versions basically tell the same story, but the new one is definitely much more riveting to watch, with better defined characters. We thought they’re going to set the remake in America, like what they did to the remake of “Straw Dogs”, but Fincher didn’t uproot the material and it’s still set in Sweden.
The central character is investigative journalist Mikael Blomqvist (played by Michael Nykvist in the original, now played by current James Bond, Daniel Craig), who’s been disgraced after a big tycoon he accused of corruption proved that the source of his article is a fraud. A millionaire businessman, Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer), in an island in the north of Sweden then hires him to re-investigate a 40-year old murder case since he continues to received framed dried flowers that involves it. He suspects the one who sends the dried flowers is the killer of his 16-year old grand niece, Harriet, who disappeared in 1966 and was presumed to have been killed.
But although Mikael is the lead character, the one who plays the title role is Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara, the girlfriend who dumps Jesse Eisenberg in the opening scene of “Social Network”, also helmed by Fincher), an ex-convict who’s a brilliant hacker. Her previous parole office died and she’s assigned a new one, a sadistic rapist who forces her to do sexual favors in return for the money she gets from the government. How she gets back at this tormentor and gives him the punishment he deserves is one of the nerve-wracking highlights of the movie.
The film's first part is spent in developing the separate storylines of Mikael and Lisbeth. They finally meet when Mikael requests for an assistant and Lisbeth is assigned to him. The film then kicks into high gear and together, they succeed in solving the puzzle about Harriet’s vanishing.
Daniel Craig manages to hold his own against Rooney Mara, who has the more intriguing, challenging role and makes the most of it. Mara obviously lost weight for her role as she’s so thin. She projects an icy impenetrable front, always on guard to protect her tortured past camouflaged by extensive body and facial piercings, bleached eyebrows and huge tattoos. Don’t make her mad as she can be ruthless and cold-blooded. Both interpretations of Mara and Rapace are exceptional, but Mara’s Lisbeth is written to be more sympathetic. In a scene with her estranged father, she confesses she has met a friend (Mikael) and is now happy. But in the final scene, this is reversed once again, making it a real feel bad movie for those who want a more conventional romance.
All in all, it’s a good mystery-thriller, with the two leads well supported by Stellan Skarsgard as Harriet’s elder brother, Joely Richardson as the mysterious other sister based in London, Robin Wright as Mikael’s editor and lover, and Yorick Van Wageningen as the disgusting parole officer.
We commend the MTRCB for allowing the film to be shown uncut inspite graphic scenes of sadism and intercourse. It’s rated R-18 so it’s not being in shown in SM Cinemas that only show R-13. You can watch it in Ayala and Robinson Cinemas.
