After losing a ruinous libel case to a famous businessman, disgraced Swedish political journalist Mikael Blomkvist is contacted by a rich industrialist, Henrik Vanger, who needs help with his memoirs. However, Blomkvist soon finds that Vanger is more concerned with finding the murderer of his favourite great-niece, who disappeared from their family’s island in 1966.
Reviews
Empire Magazine
Damon Wise
“Though Fincher professes to be a hard-ass both professionally and aesthetically — and with its not-to-be-underestimated moments of anal rape and torture, his film is not for the faint-hearted — The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo says more about broken hearts than broken people. Which, to address the nay-sayers, is where Fincher went right.”
19/12/2011
Read Full Review
The Evening Standard
Derek Malcolm
“Despite [big] names, there still seems to be something missing, however - perhaps that is something to do with the plot no longer seeming fresh.”
23/12/2011
Read Full Review
The Financial Times
Nigel Andrews
“The annoying thing is, it’s riveting. We know what will happen and it’s still riveting. ”
22/12/2011
Read Full Review
The Scotsman
Alistair Harkness
“Transforming pulpy material into an efficient – if still a little unwieldy – procedural, tightening up some of the errant plot strands, and teasing out nuances and subtleties the main characters, it’s about as good a film that could possibly be made from a beloved book whose sales figures have resulted in its literary merits being blown out of all proportion. It’s also, mercifully, properly cinematic. ”
22/12/2011
Read Full Review
Time Magazine
Richard Corliss
“Seeing Fincher’s version is like getting a Christmas gift of a book you already have. This edition has a nicer binding and prettier illustrations than your beloved old paperback, but it’s essentially a reproduction of the same old dragon. Dragon Tat-two.”
20/12/2011
Read Full Review
Time Out
Dave Calhoun
“As you’d expect from Fincher, the storytelling is immaculate, and he negotiates a mix of accents, all speaking English, with little distraction. Yet whatever bells and whistles you hang off this tale, there’s no escaping that its murder mystery element is fairly pulpy and unremarkable. ”
19/12/2011
Read Full Review
Total Film
Jamie Graham
“A controlled, mesmerising, beautiful thriller scarred by scenes of unshakeable brutality and breathless tension.”
13/12/2011
Read Full Review
Screen
Tim Grierson
“Monstrously skilful and powerfully engrossing [this] American remake of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is such a taut thriller that it’s a pity it overstays its welcome with an extended finale that isn’t nearly as satisfying. ”
13/12/2011
Read Full Review
The New York Times
A. O. Scott
“There are waves of brilliantly orchestrated anxiety and confusion but also long stretches of drab, hackneyed exposition that flatten the atmosphere. We might be watching “Cold Case” or “Criminal Minds,” but with better sound design and more expressive visual techniques. Hold your breath, it’s a time for a high-speed Internet search! Listen closely, because the chief bad guy is about to explain everything right before he kills you!”
19/12/2011
Read Full Review
The New Yorker
David Denby
“The movie mixes high-end detective work and sensational sexual scenes. The director, David Fincher, stages the brutal sex for horror; the scenes are discomforting, not a turn-on.”
26/12/2011
Read Full Review
The Independent on Sunday
Jonathan Romney
“If only Fincher could have brought in Mark Zuckerberg to trade laconic geek talk with Salander – they would have got on so well.”
18/12/2011
Read Full Review
The Guardian
Peter Bradshaw
“It is Mara who is the driving force behind this film: without her, audiences might be forced to focus on the persistently improbable and unreal-looking elements, particularly the sketchily imagined world of media and business. The uproarious final revenge taken by Lisbeth, who turns out to be a master of disguise, is a caperish ending ... But it is a testament to Mara's massive star firepower that she powers through all this. ”
22/12/2011
Read Full Review
The Daily Telegraph
Robbie Collin
“A success on its own terms, but every aspect of it is overshadowed by another of Fincher’s films ... its knotty plotting is comprehensively out-red-herringed by the masterful Zodiac; its melding of noir tension and graphic torture was more effectively done in Seven; its critique of society’s moral numbness felt more dangerous in Fight Club. As such, it’s easy to see why Fincher wanted to make it – and hard to shake the feeling that perhaps he shouldn’t have bothered.”
23/12/2011
Read Full Review
The Sunday Times
Cosmo Landesman
“Of the two films, Fincher’s is more stylish, but also more shallow. He’s interested in the drama and dynamics of the whodunnit, rather than in the debate that drama is intended to provoke ... So we are invited to sit back and enjoy the scene where, having been raped by her guardian, Salander returns to his flat to exact vengeance. Up goes the dildo and out comes the tattoo needle for her former tormentor. It’s amazing what you can show audiences in the name of female empowerment. ”
18/12/2011
Read Full Review
The Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
“This film's cold, almost robotic conception of Salander as a twitchy, anorexic waif feels more like a stunt than a complete character, and so the best part of the reason we care enough to endure all that mayhem has gone away.”
20/12/2011
Read Full Review
The Daily Mail
Chris Tookey
“Though not in monochrome, the film is so drained of colour that it could almost be in black and white ... The master of the thriller genre, Alfred Hitchcock, knew that even the nastiest stories need light as well as shade. Fincher’s too busy darkening his garish source material to care.”
23/12/2011
Read Full Review
The Independent
Anthony Quinn
“Larsson fans probably won't mind, but this latest Dragon Tattoo fails to justify itself so quickly after the Swedish version. The photography is crisper, the grooming is slicker, the production values are ritzier – and it has Daniel Craig ... Yet it feels like a real footslog, and the running time suffers from serious bloat.”
23/12/2011
Read Full Review