The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
A superbly engaging crime thriller that delves on the investigation of a teenager’s disappearance that happened decades back. Two unusual accomplices come together to crack the case while dealing with their majorly fucked up lives.
Director – David Fincher
Cast – Rooney Mara, Daniel Craig, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skargard, Steven berkoff, Robin Wright, Yorick van Wageningen, Joely Richardson.
Based on – the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Plot
After a major professional set back, journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Craig) has been offered by the patriarch of an industrialist family, Henrik (Plummer) to investigate what happened to his niece who disappeared 40 yrs ago when she was 16.
Lisbeth Salander (Ronny) is a ward of state, very anti social but a brilliant hacker and investigator.
While she was initially hired to investigate Blomkvist’s background , watch what brings these two unusual and mismatched investigators together to solve this unusual case.
Analysis
The film begins with focus on Blomkvist’s character, introduction to intriguing Lisbeth’s and opens up the whodunnit. Goes without saying, that it has your attention full on.
As the story proceeds, the sharp dialogues, the tight situations, and some heart tugging circumstances have you fully invested even before the investigation begins.
The screenplay and the performances had a lot to do with it.
As far as the mystery of the disappearance per se, I would say it wasn’t as mind blowing. You might be able to have inklings well before the revelations. But then the revelations do come with some unexpected twisted twists (that wasn’t a typo error).
The overall combination of Lisbeth and Blomkvist’s track along with the mystery makes for a great combination. Personally I found the former weighing upon the mystery part.
Whatever part you like better, it’s a win-win situation and a wonderful watch nevertheless.