The Lady Using the Dragon Tattoo

Rooney Mara stars in David Fincher's adaptation of 'The Girl Using the Dragon Tattoo.'Co-starring Difficulties and Christopher Plummer, 'Dragon Tattoo' is dependant on Stieg Larsson's best-selling novel.A The new sony Pictures Entertainment discharge of a Columbia Pictures and MGM presentation of the Scott Rudin/Yellow Bird production. Created by Scott Rudin, Ole Sondberg, Soren Staermose, Cean Chaffin. Executive producers, Zaillian, Mikael Wallen, Anni Faurbye Fernandez. Co-producers, Berna Levin, Eli Rose bush. Directed by David Fincher. Script, Steven Zaillian, in line with the book by Stieg Larsson, initially released by Norstedts.Mikael Blomkvist - Difficulties Lisbeth Salander - Rooney Mara Henrik Vanger - Christopher Plummer Martin Vanger - Stellan Skarsgard Frode - Steven Berkoff Erika Berger - Robin Wright Bjurman - Yorick van Wageningen Anita Vanger - Joely Richardson Cecilia - Geraldine James Armansky - Goran Visnjic Det. Morell - Jesse Sumpter Wennerstrom - Ulf FribergIf ever an environment might be referred to as dank, fetid yet oddly luxurious, it is the chill leaking through every corrosively beautiful frame of "The Lady Using the Dragon Tattoo." As classy a movie as might be produced from Stieg Larsson's sordid page-turner, David Fincher's much-anticipated go back to serial-killer territory is really a fastidiously harsh pulp entertainment that plays just like a first-class train ride through progressively bleaker circles of hell. When the brooding intelligence and technical mastery displayed sometimes feel disproportionate towards the material, Rooney Mara's riveting undertake Lisbeth Salander nicely validates what will probably be Fincher's greatest success up to now. The worldwide recognition of Larsson's posthumously released "Millennium" trilogy should assist the The new sony release overcome numerous commercial hurdles, together with a no-bull R rating, moments of implied sexual assault, along with a pacey but unhurried 158-minute running time. This British-lingo adaptation is coming not lengthy following a broadly seen Swedish version (which made $104 million worldwide as well as an impressive $ten million within the U.S. this past year) could hinder its worldwide prospects to some extent, but overall, the need to determine what Hollywood has wrought from Larsson's literary juggernaut should lure franchise addicts, casual fans and mildly curious holdouts. What they are set for is really a substantially slicker and much more sophisticated bit of film craft compared to Swedish production or either of their Nordic TV sequels. The film telegraphs its exceptional production values and acrid tone and among Fincher's typically arresting credits sequences: an immediate-fire craze of images variously evoking sex, violence, birth, technology and immolation, set to some furious cover of Brought Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" featuring Karen O. It's most probably a howl of rage in the ravaged psyche of Lisbeth Salander (Mara), the dragon-inked Goth girl whose black mohawk, bondage gear and do not-mess-with-me attitude hide a troubled history in addition to among Sweden's great investigative minds. Hewing more faithfully towards the novel than its predecessor did, Steven Zaillian's smartly trimmed script divides it is time between Salander, a very gifted hacker and professional snoop, and the newest subject of 1 of her expert background inspections, Stockholm-based magazine journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Difficulties). Openly disgraced after losing a higher-profile libel situation rigged with a corrupt mogul (Ulf Friberg), Blomkvist requires a powder and relocates on impulse towards the remote Hedeby Island there, Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer), aging patriarch from the wealthy, infamously fractious Vanger family, has designated him to discover what went down to Henrik's niece Harriet, who, as portrayed in beautifully hued flashbacks, inexplicably disappeared in the island a lot more than 4 decades ago. Blomkvist eventually unmasks not only a killer but a very disturbing record of generational sin etched within the Vanger dynasty's DNA and, by extension, the material associated with a Western capitalist society. Without excessively underlining the subtext, the film fully maintains Larsson's very finely veiled indictment of corporate skulduggery, anti-Semitism, child abuse and, most importantly, unspeakably sadistic crimes against women (not for free was the novel released in Sweden underneath the title "Males Who Hate Women"). Fittingly, it's Salander who can serve as not just a victim of these violence, but an avenging dark angel. To that particular finish, editors Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall crosscut frequently between Blomkvist's analysis along with a disturbing parallel narrative by which Salander, a ward from the condition, must cope with a predatory legal advocate (Yorick van Wageningen). Just like the Swedish pic, the moments by which this sadist abuses his authority will prove probably the most hard to watch, although here the degradation is much more implied than seen, shot dimly and from the well-judged distance, without any hint of leering or exploitation past the calculated satisfaction of watching Salander turn the tables. Blomkvist eventually employs Salander like a research assistant, starting a collaboration that sparks professional and romantic sparks and brings the analysis to some boil. Because the two make use of the most advanced technology to resurrect old files, photos and cuttings, their MacBooks commanding as much screentime his or her faces, Fincher charts their progress with unerring focus and agility intuitively, one picks up reverberations from the helmer's past work, particularly the razor-sharp techno-savvy of "The Social Networking" and also the procedural rigor of "Zodiac." Yet in which the obsessive mission for understanding for the reason that 2007 film was predicated around the unknowability from the truth, "The Lady Using the Dragon Tattoo" is finally disappointed with a yarn that contents itself with easy solutions and couple of residual mysteries. For the fetishistic attention Fincher and the crew lavish on every nasty forensic detail, they are not able to transmute Larsson's rudimentary mystery plotting into some thing than pop-lit fare. What remains, then, may be the hypnotic presence of Mara, who fearlessly steps right into a role made legendary by Swedish thesp Noomi Rapace and proves a lot more than comparable to the task. Whereas Rapace stressed the character's pluck and rage, the greater petite, vulnerable-searching Mara presents Salander being an purged-out enigma: Pierced towards the nines, her eye brows dyed a pale complexion in order to drain any readable emotion from her face, she frequently averts her gaze downward from whoever she might be addressing. It is a gesture at the same time defensive and defiant, bespeaking many years of suffered abuse and alienation, yet despite her blank affect, the actress charges every moment with tension and feeling. Though he's a far more compelling Blomkvist than Swedish inventor Michael Nyqvist, Craig still ensures to provide the smoothness as a little of the schlump, tamping lower his leading-guy charisma to permit Mara to decisively claim the spotlight. The duo's frequently darkly funny rapport takes care of with startling emotion within the final reels, possibly probably the most satisfying surprise from the filmmaker whose temperament has generally been as frigid because the film's Swedish landscapes. Casting elsewhere is ideal lower towards the littlest roles, particularly Robin Wright as Blomkvist's gorgeous editor/lover Stellan Skarsgard as Harriet's genial brother, Martin and, regardless of the excision of great importance and of her material in the novel, Geraldine James as Henrik's inquisitive grandniece, Cecilia. The slight variability from the ensemble's Swedish accents (Craig maintains his British enunciation) is really a minor although not annoying flaw. Using the outstanding aid of d.p. Shaun Cronenweth and production designer Jesse Graham Burt, Fincher has made a grey, strongly creepy world consistent with Larsson's cynical vision spanning glassy modern offices and moneyed estates in addition to squalid houses and rustic bungalows, it is a place where evil hides in plain sight, or even a well-hired apartment or perhaps an island getaway can change to be considered a sicko's torture chamber. Sometimes transporting echoes of the focus on "Social Networking," Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' score blends dread with driving momentum, creating a highly unsettling mood with recurring dissonances, eerie windchimes and pulsing reverb effects.Camera (Luxurious color, widescreen), Shaun Cronenweth editors, Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall music, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross production designer, Jesse Graham Burt supervisory art director, Mikael Varhelyi art company directors, Frida Arvidsson, Kajsa Severin, Pernilla Olsson set decorator, Linda Janson costume designer, Trish Summerville seem (Dolby Digital/SDDS/Datasat), Bo Persson re-recording mixers, David Parker, Michael Semanick, Klyce seem designer, Ren Klyce visual effects supervisor, Eric Barba visual effects, Digital Domain additional visual effects, the 3rd & the Seventh, Proebius, Savage Visual Effects, Method Galleries, Ollin VFX, A52, Eden Forex, Colorworks stunt planners, Kimmo Rajala, Ben Cooke line producer, Malte Forssell assistant director, Bob Wagner casting, Laray Mayfield. Examined at The new sony Galleries, Culver City, 12 ,. 2, 2011. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 158 MIN. Contact Justin Chang at justin.chang@variety.com