The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (David Fincher, 2011)

[mfunk9786]

Sony plans to start shooting The Girl Who Played with Fire by the end of this year... but David Fincher is not attached yet, and some are saying that Sony might want to look for a less expensive director since Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig are under contract for the last two films already. Which would be a nightmare scenario to say the least.

Back in mid-December, Fincher stated that he doesn't need to be around for the sequels - but it sounded like he wanted to see it through and felt he owed it to Mara, who had a tough time shooting the first film and might not be thrilled if he weren't directing the sequels.

Fincher wants to shoot the two sequels back-to-back in one trip, but judging from the wording of Sony's statement, it sounds a bit like they might be splitting up the shooting of each film. It's hard to tell exactly what to believe - but I would be crestfallen to say the least if Fincher weren't directing the next two films. I'd want to see where the story goes (I know nothing about this series outside of this first Fincher film) and want to see more of Mara and Craig's performances, but even if they chose a good director, I don't know that I'd appreciate a different vibe after the first film felt like such a concrete vision.

[matrixschmatrix]

I think if Fincher's out, I'm out- great though the performances were, Fincher's the reason I bothered to watch this version and not the Swedish one. The story seemed reasonably well wrapped up, as far as it goes, and I can only imagine that the ratio of what seemed worth watching to punishing nastiness would not improve with another director- or the material would undergo the normal Americanization process, and be scrubbed clean. Neither sounds appealing.

[cdnchris]

That'll prove really disappointing if he doesn't. I despised the Swedish sequels despite being fond of the original, and I blame a lot of that on the director change (or that the stories just weren't very good, not sure.) I was hoping to see what Fincher and Zaillian would do with them.

[Roger Ryan]

Judging from the Swedish sequels only, I'd say the stories aren't nearly as good. FIRE relied on a lot of hoary Bond cliches and HORNET was more of a courtroom drama. This is where Fincher could really improve the films because he would have a lot more room to fill in character nuance than he did on TATTOO.

[arsonfilms]

While I enjoyed the novels quite a bit, the major failing of the Swedish films was that the last two stories (or rather the single story that is covered by the two novels) are almost totally a continuation of the major subplots in Dragon Tattoo. Both of the Swedish and American Dragon Tattoo films dealt with those plots differently, but I think that because Fincher included more of those subplots, the American sequels have a better chance of succeeding.

[cdnchris]

Maybe the second novel is better than the film version but I couldn't get past Bond cliches, as Roger points out, right down to the albino henchman. I liked that it really tried to focus more on Lisbeth but damn, the story was stupid and the direction was uninspired. (The third I didn't hate as much but I'm still not fond of it.)

I also may have let myself down because I liked the first one so much (including Fincher's remake, which I may like more than the Swedish original as I think about it) probably because I'm a sucker for decent murder/mysteries and, as sordid as it was, thought it was fairly clever. Maybe I was expecting something more along those lines with the follow-ups but was disappointed when I ended up getting a ridiculous Bond knock-off and then a bland courtroom thriller.

[Dona Santa]

I decided after going to see it on Christmas day, that I like this movie. It's something that will probably grow with me and depending on the sequels it'll probably be something I can really enjoy as part of a bigger picture. I would disagree with Fincher in which he said "there's a bit of an emotional cliffhanger at the end but it's complete." This truly feels like there's a need to go deeper into the story much rather than a standalone movie. I hope Fincher gets his way or at the very least agrees to a sequel.

[flyonthewall2983]

Really judging from the Swedish movie alone, not having read any of the books, this is an improvement on the material. It cut a lot of the dead weight and felt more concise to me, and the ending definitely felt more concrete, but with enough room open for a sequel.

Only thing I didn't like was the brief mention that the woman having the affair with Blomkvist running the magazine was the one cheating on her spouse, not both of them.

[Cold Bishop]

Well, that's not that simple. It mentions that they both were cheating. When it came out, Blomvkist's wife divorced him. Her husband, on the other hand, was fine with it. The movie doesn't make the husband's consent explicit, but I think you can infer it even without the novel.

[flyonthewall2983]

Ah, I didn't read it that way for some reason.

[Dona Santa]

I have not read the books either or seen the original actually (something I will get around to this weekend) but we briefly see Martin's wife/girlfriend/friend??? early in the movie when Blomvkist first gets to the island. Is that character important at all in the other two installments? does she show up again at all? I guess is what I should ask first.

[duck duck]

I haven't seen the Fincher but,if the character your talking about is the woman who works at Millennium, then yes she's in the other two films quite a bit but if she seems to be the ex-wife (not clear in the Swedish) then not really. He doesn't have a wife in the Swedish films.

I'm glad to see other people thinking the sequels were comparable to Bond films, I told someone reading the first book that they may not want to read the other two. The sequels really seem forced and offered nothing but dumbing down the first.

[Dona Santa]

I'm talking about when Blomvkist visits Martin at his house on top of the hill for the first time and her character is having dinner with them.

[Roger Ryan]

I'm talking about when Blomvkist visits Martin at his house on top of the hill for the first time and her character is having dinner with them.

Yes, I believe that character is meant to be Martin's wife or girlfriend. I don't believe she appears in the Swedish version nor in the sequels.

[matrixschmatrix]

There's a brief mention of her near the end of the movie- Martin mentions that she has always found him terribly conventional, or something along those lines.

[mfunk9786]

It's his girlfriend. I don't remember the exact line, but he made passing reference to the fact that she'll never marry him.

[flyonthewall2983]

The music is quite good, a real expansive step forward from The Social Network. The soundtrack itself is shaping to be a close 2nd to Drive, for me.

[Dona Santa]

Ah, thanks for the clarification. I will probably see it again this weekend to catch things which I certainly have missed.

flyonthewall, the soundtrack is pretty great. I like how the official OST is longer than the score that was present in the movie (including parts that weren't even in it) and is longer than the movie itself at a little over 170 minutes.

[duck duck]

So, does this one merit a dreaded poll?

Who saw what and read what and which is preferred?

[flyonthewall2983]

I really hope Fincher directs the next two, and that Sony lets him direct them back-to-back. I really can't imagine anyone who can do justice to what he's laid the groundwork for here. And since the film has done a little better since the holidays died down, and David himself saying the script for Fire is good, maybe this will come to pass.

[Mike_S]

One of the biggest pleasures for me of this film was seeing Steven Berkoff get a decent role again.

[flyonthewall2983]

Fincher, much like Christopher Nolan (really good example would be Tom Berenger in Inception), has a tendency to cast actors a bit off the beaten path in good roles. Actors you normally wouldn't expect to see in supporting roles in major films. I looked up Berkoff's iMDB and didn't realize he was in a couple Kubrick films and the villain in Beverly Hills Cop.

[flyonthewall2983]

Blu-ray hits March 20th

[mfunk9786]

Sounds like Sony wants to rush this out a la Paramount with Zodiac, but eh, I'll double dip

[Jeff]

Sounds like Sony wants to rush this out a la Paramount with Zodiac, but eh, I'll double dip

I'm sure you're right. I think I even remember reading that David Prior was on set in Sweden. Surprised Fincher recorded commentary for this edition.

Sony rushed out a bare bones Panic Room disc too.