Director David Fincher's much-anticipated remake isn't completely the same as the very recently made Swedish version. Let's skip the pleasantries and get right to the rough stuff. Here's how it compares: same run time but fewer plot points, greater attention to detail, less violent but creepier sexual abuse, funnier overall, better music, and more comfy sweaters. Fincher succeeds in creating another film that is visually sleek, but ultimately it has all the warmth and mystery of Mark Zuckerberg at a deposition. On its own, the movie will impress newcomers because it's a fantastic story told by an interesting filmmaker. For everyone who knows what notoriously preceded it, I think it will fail to stir any powerful new emotions or thoughts. It's more of a rehash than a re-imagining, but that doesn't mean that you should refrain. There's plenty to like.
The story is the same. For those who aren't familiar with poor Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer), he is tortured by the unsolved 40-year-old murder of his niece Harriet. He hires a recently-disgraced journalist Mikhael (Daniel Craig) to solve it, and invites him to stay in the middle of the moral cesspool that is his family estate so he can have a front row seat for all the depravity. Soon Mikhail needs an assistant, and since they've already ruffled all the Vanger family's feathers, why not invite the disagreeable but technologically talented Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) to the grounds?
Somehow the film ends up feeling sucked dry of any mystery and intrigue. Is this because I have read both the novel and seen the original, and this only hits a couple of surprising new notes? Possibly. But the filmmakers' choice to remove most of Mikhail's interactions with the Vanger family lowers the Orient Express-type suspense, as well as the creep factor. Just saying they're Nazis and degenerates isn't the same as showing me--in this movie, they make a couple of snide remarks but mostly stay unseen inside their big houses. That also affects the overall sense of danger in the film. Mikhail never really seems to be pushing the limits with this secretive bunch, and I have no fears that the spike-clad Lisbeth will fully protect him. Of course Fincher is great with explaining the mystery itself, and it's not uninteresting, it just seemed whitewashed.
Remember what was great? The Social Network score. So Fincher re-hired Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross to do it again for this movie, and it's the glue that makes the whole techno-goth-post-punk-leather thing really come together. Jacob Groth's work in the original trilogy is haunting, but much more conventional, and this score feels like what would happen if Groth's work snuck out of its parents' house to go to an all-ages club and maybe bootleg a beer on the way. The whole point is how much of a badass a girl with a dragon tattoo is. Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) can't be zipping around on her motorcycle with an orchestra playing in the background anymore--that's so 2009. Here the hard synth pops and beeps work double-time here to make this film feel edgy, even when it really isn't. Daft Punk is the only other group that could have come close to getting these results.
Another great choice by The Finch was to cast Rooney Mara. This is a challenging role: Lisbeth broadcasts toughness and lives in a constant state of animal-like readiness. She's fiercely protecting a pea-sized amount of vulnerability inside her that gets sought out and exploited (at great cost to the predator). Mara's take on the character makes this balance feel all the more fragile--besides being The Woman of a Thousand Hairstyles (how does she DO it with that short hair?!), her blankness simmers and her eyes telegraph that the wheels are always turning, assessing and reassessing, which is followed by her punching or revving an engine. She is such a huge presence that there's practically no room left for Daniel Craig, who is almost non-existent in this film. His habit of letting his eyeglasses dangle off one ear against his Adam's apple is notably adorable, but that's his crowning achievement here. In fact, when their paths finally cross, there is no question who is wearing the pants between them. He has no choice but to yield to her, just like the audience.