Adaptations #3: The Girl Who Stole the Show

I have yet to read any of Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy, but aside from a few minor flaws, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was another in a long line of successful series-to-movie adaptations. The opening credit sequence (featuring a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" by Karen O, Trent Reznor, and Atticus Ross) was like something from a lost James Bond movie, managing to be creepy and awesome at the same time. And sure enough, in steps Bond himself, Daniel Craig, as disgraced "Millennuim" magazine editor Mikael Blomkvist, who is tasked by millionaire Henrik Vanger (The Beginners' Christopher Plummer) to solve a forty-year-old missing persons case connected to his estranged family. As his inquest begins to suggest something far more sinister than a mere disappearance, Mikael enlists the help of unconventional private investigator Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara, sister of American Horror Story's Kate Mara) to uncover the bigger picture.
Dragon Tattoo takes place in Sweden, which rightly suggests a lot of Swedish supporting actors and non-Swede leads who are mostly successful at faking Swedish accents. Unfortunately for me, this resulted in quite a bit of the actors not giving a damn whether we can understand them or not. Chief among these offenders was Craig, whose idea of a successful Swedish accent began with much gravel-voiced word swallowing (a character device better left to the likes of Christian Bale and Jeff Bridges) and caused my disinterest in the first fifth of the film's 2:38 running time. But as time went on, Craig stopped trying to be a Swede and went back to just being himself, and I again became interested in watching what would unfold.
The real star of Dragon Tattoo is Rooney Mara as the title Girl, who, in addition to being physically unrecognizable in the role, brings such unspoken depth to her character that when she does speak, it is quiet yet short, to the point, expressive, and believable. She's damaged, she's powerful, she's crazy, and she's not paid to give her opinion. You don't have to speak, just nod. NOD!
B+