The Girl With
The Dragon Tattoo

As I was sitting through the never ending opening title sequence of mysterious S & M themed images set to a cover of Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song, I realized The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was going to be a long movie (with some cool music), whether you need it to be or not, and these guys behind it want to shock us by any means necessary.

Based on the novel by Stieg Larsson, Daniel Craig stars as Mikael - a Swedish journalist embarrassed and defamed after controversially being found guilty of libel (and, a Swedish journalist who speaks English, and all of the Swedish characters speak English, even though all of the signs and writing in the movie are in Swedish, people notice those kind of details and they take us out of the movie and back into reality, but I digress).

To save the magazine he runs with his lover, Erika (Robin Wright), Mikael resigns and takes the intriguing, profitable job of trying to solve a 40-year old mystery - find the missing granddaughter of a wealthy industrialist family filled with more weirdos and malcontents than a concert by the Insane Clown Posse. Plus, he'll need an assistant, Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), who is brilliant, disturbed, angry and scared.

What happened to this missing girl and who did it?

Ultimately, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is a movie about bad people doing bad things, and those who believe in right and wrong fighting back however they can. Maybe that's what made the original Swedish version such an art house hit, but this American version should have been tighter.

Director David Fincher wants to shock us with salaciousness, brutality, and shocking behavior no one in the theater would ever support, but, at its heart, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is a traditional, complex mystery wearing the salaciousness, brutality and shocking behavior like an 18-year old college girl getting a nose ring in an attempt to make herself appear to be more edgy and cool just before she heads home for the holidays.

However, that mystery is compelling because of the twists and turns, as well as characters and actors playing them. There are times when Lisbeth is so overdone it feels affected. Her entire look with the black-dyed hair, multiple piercings and hoodie is the kind of goth, suicide girl you would find in the movies or on Halloween night, not in real life, but Mara is good as the character who is starting to become iconic.

Lisbeth is a troubled young lady with lots of reasons to hate society, so she can't be loquacious and riveting. Mara rightly plays her as a wounded animal who strikes with ferocity when needed and wanted. However, she's secondary.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo often is heralded for the strong, counterculture, Girl Power character of Lisbeth Salander, but the movie feels split into two parts, with her part being the lesser in importance. Sure, fans of the books and Swedish movies know this character becomes a much bigger part of the story in the next two movies, but who is to say those next two movies get made in America? Instead of establishing a great deal of material to set up a sequel or two, Fincher and writer Steve Zaillian need to be making a better case for the fascination we should be feeling for Lisbeth.

Craig is great as the journalist/investigator who often finds himself in precarious situations, and has to grapple with his own ethical challenges. Plus, he has this great look of shock that helps the audience relate to Mikael.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo practically screams out that it wants to be cool, and succeeds most of the time.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is rated R for brutal violent content including rape and torture, strong sexuality, graphic nudity, and language.