The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, directed by David Fincher

The question has been asked many times since David Fincher began planning his version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: "Is it really necessary"?  "No" is the most obvious answer, as the Swedish versions of Stieg Larsson's pulpy, frigid crime novel were released just a couple of years ago, and all in one calendar year here in America. The problem is that we don't really dig those foreign flicks, with their crazy little subtitles that force us to read. Pfft! Perish the thought. So Larsson's best selling blockbuster was due, and if it was going to happen, there was no better choice to lead it than David Fincher.

Fincher is a technical and storytelling wiz, who knows his way around a serial killer yarn as well as anybody. Zodiac, from a couple of years ago, should be the springboard for the cheerless, oppressive tone he's looking for, and Fincher nails that with ease. There's no doubt his version is leaps and bounds better looking than the Swedish film, but is it an overall superior production? Absolutely, and to be fair both films have their upsides, with the majority of the problems coming from the relative weakness of Larsson's turgid source material.

A venomous pall hangs over every scene, that is once you get past the weird, liquid metal opening credits that look like a remnant from Headbanger's Ball. Thank you, Trent Reznor. Mikael Blomqvist (Daniel Craig) is a journalist who has just seen his career go up in smoke thanks to being convicted of libel against some corporate big shot. Broke, and unwilling to put his magazine in further jeopardy, he has nowhere left to turn. Until he's approached by Henrik Vanger(Christopher Plummer), a wealthy businessman with potentially lucrative proposition. Officially, Blomqvist will be writing Henrik's memoirs, but unofficially he'll be digging into the Vanger family history to uncover the murderer of his niece, Harriet, who disappeared decades before.

To say the Vanger family line is a snake pit is to do a disservice to reptiles. Their family's lineage runs deep into the very foundations of Sweden, and there are more than a few crackpots, eccentrics, and even a few Nazis at the annual family reunion. The sensitivity of the matter forced Henrik to do a little background check on Mikael, performed by the tattooed, prickly, multi-pierced Lisbeth Salander(Rooney Mara).

In all honest, Lisbeth is the driving force behind every waking moment of the film even though for the most part her story only parallels that of Mikael's. The two don't actually meet until much later on, but you'll be hard pressed to find a reason to care about the Vanger mystery or the self-absorbed Mikael and his affair with a co-worker, Erika Berger(Robin Wright). It's Lisbeth and her uphill, violent struggle against the male dominated forces uniting against her that are truly compelling. A ward of the state from an early age, Lisbeth gains a new, sexually depraved guardian when the one she's come to know and respect suddenly falls ill. To say this new guardian takes advantage of her is an understatement. He violates her in the worst ways imaginable, in a horrific scene that some will find difficult to endure. It's a touch less torturous than we've seen before, and the workmanlike script by Steve Zaillian takes great pleasure in Lisbeth's revenge.

Neils Arden Oplev directed the first version, which took it's limited budget pieced together the most fundamental aspects of Larsson's dense novel. Unfortunately, in the process a lot of key elements were left on the cutting room floor, and Fincher has smartly picked them back up. We see a touch more of Mikael's family life, his Bible-thumping daughter who plays a crucial part in solving the case later on. Also more of his cavalier attitude towards women, in particular his colleague Erika. But more importantly, we get deeper inside the world that Lisbeth inhabits. Her loneliness, her isolation, her inability to trust, and the burning rage that fuels her questionable actions. Rooney Mara makes for a softer, slightly more emotional version of Lisbeth than Noomi Rapace gave us, but it's still a powerful performance so good the film is instantly less without her on screen.  Daniel Craig is solid, and women will likely find him far more appealing to look at than Michael Nyqvist, but really he doesn't have to show us much

If only there was more meat to what Larsson cooked up. The novels skyrocketed to global success because of the menacing world they envisioned, where women always had to be on edge due to scandalous, violent men around every corner looking to do harm. Even Mikael, to some extent, is just a hound dog sniffing at every female butt that crosses his path. Neither Fincher's film, nor the previous one, ever fully embraces that theme of "Men Who Hate Women"(as the title translates to in Swedish). The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo looks fantastic, the score is beautiful yet intense, and Rooney Mara is superb. But if you take away the trappings that made Larsson's novel unique, and all you've got left is a conventional crime procedural.