The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Justin: Alright, so The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a mystery. Rich Swedes misplaced a sister back in the sixties. What happened? You better believe that it had something to with the Nazi’s. Chels has read the first half of the book, but I haven’t, so my review is strictly about the movie. Daniel Craig is a washed up, Swedish news reporter who’s got legal problems and an English accent. Creepy old dude asks him to look into a family mystery. Half of the movie is putting together random evidence from the sixties. You spend so much time perusing files and hanging in the library that when some hectic, brutal, sexual stuff comes along it seems like you’re suddenly watching a different movie. Everyone except for the cyberpunk girl basically just hangs around chatting and acting very white until our unlikely duo get a little too close to the family secret. She is a l33t Haxxor, like most generation Y counter-culture scene girls, and uses this to her advantage. She’s actually the one who helped bring the hammer down on Craig’s character, but they seem to forget about that pretty quick. Everything in this movie is riding on the titular character, and Rooney Mara is perfectly cast. How do I write reviews without spoilers? Suffice to say it’s a pretty stylish movie with a dark underbelly. It’s a damn good mystery to that keeps you guessing, but I wouldn’t want to watch this movie with my mom. There’s a brief epilogue where they really stick it to these bastards. It suffers in that it seems to end a couple of different times before the credits roll. Fincher pulls off another moody, slow-paced, creepy movie and I’d recommend it. I am thinking about checking out the Swedish version too, which is supposed to be a little grittier and low-rent. Finally, man Sweden looks like it’s freaking cold.

Chels: Alright David Fincher. I know you needed someone with some legit acting chops to pull off this role. And you got him, Daniel Craig is one bad ass dude. IT'S MOTHER FUCKING BOND! But the real stand out is Rooney Mara. Her performance is largely facial expression and body language driven. The few lines she does deliver and sharp, brutal, and all together completely robotic and unforgiving. Notably this mirrors her character's most enduring trait. SHE WILL NEVER FORGET ANYTHING YOU DO TO HER, and with the help of her entrepreneurial drive and pension for some body ink, you won't either. But come on Fincher. You have Daniel Craig's abs buried under NUMEROUS layers of flannel and down jackets. If memory serves me right, I only saw him with his shirt off three times. THREE TIMES FINCHER! Sweden is no place for Daniel Craig. What with the gloves and jackets and year round need to wear clothes. He should perpetually be emerging from a frothing ocean, dripping with saltwater, with sunlight glistening off his every rippling muscle, like so.. I can only assume that Justin would agree.