Rating of
2/4
"The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 02/25/12
An emotionally damaged young researcher helps a disgraced investigative journalist reopen the case of a series of murders that occurred 40 years ago. Having heard so much about this "international best seller" and the fact that David Fincher deemed it worthy of a remake meant that the idea of this film intrigued me, but despite its weighty reputation I felt seriously let down. Technically, TGWTDT is absolutely fine. The performances all solid, the pacing and direction well executed and the photography is attractive and stylish. Unfortunately all these good qualities are built on quicksand because the plot is, in a word, bollocks. It's exactly like one of those 90s detective TV shows (Inspector Morse sprang to mind). But worse. It involves a girl who is emotionally traumatised (you can tell because she has tattoos and piercings and is a bit gay, THE WEIRDO) who is graphically (and irrelevantly) raped and then manages to figure out that the murdered girls are all Jewish (something beyond the capabilities of the Swedish police force who are clearly an army of Inspector Clouseaus). The pair then brilliantly solve the crime using only a complete set of photos of the day of the crime luckily on display for all to see and identify the killer who handily only owns one jumper. The guy who instigated the investigation (who can't tell the difference between his close family members) is then shocked by the fact that the woman who has been sending him presents every year for the last 40 years is ALIVE!! Gasp! The score I'm giving this film is purely for the technical side of things because this crappy airport paperback plot just didn't deserve to be made in the first place. What a disappointment.
