David Fincher
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

This recently released film is the readaptation of the first chapter of the world-famous trilogy by Swedish author Stieg Larsson, which was published posthumously in 2005. Specifically, it is the first of the three books, from which, it should be noted, a film had already been made in recent times (roughly the same fate as "Let the Right One In," even though the first versions were quite satisfactory for both).

In this version, however, Daniel Craig, Robin Wright, and Christopher Plummer are added, just to give a little substance to what would otherwise be nothing more than reheated soup. Anyway, for those like me who have neither flipped half a page of the book nor watched the previous film, you can still steer clear of this one without too much regret. Indeed, as far as can be inferred from the plot itself, as well-crafted or even thrilling as it may be (if desired), it still does not present any points of note, but rather it ties back to themes related to the Bible and Nazism; as can also be said for the direction by David Fincher, who thus does not deny the bland trend of his latest films and therefore continues to rest on his laurels.

Coming to the film itself, we have a first part where the affairs of reporter Mikael Blomkvist are contrasted with those of Lisbeth Salander, the latter being an investigator with a difficult past, tasked with spying on the former on behalf of Henrik Vanger, a wealthy patriarch who has been striving for years to shed light on the disappearance of his niece Harriet and who wishes to hire the reporter to investigate the case. At the same time, Lisbeth's personal circumstances take a bad turn due to her conflicting relationship with her guardian, resulting in various types of abuse and retaliation. The film starts to gain momentum in the second part, even though the culprit, a serial killer, will turn out to be the most obvious one, even on a casting level. The relationship between Blomkvist and Lisbeth is well configured from the moment the two find themselves united in the pursuit of a truth buried within the family ties of the Vanger family, which will pave the way for twists and various turns concerning the identity of the missing Harriet and possible accomplices; leaving room also for vigilante justice executed by the investigator/hacker against both the serial killer and another corrupt character presented at the beginning of the story, who, however, will simply be stripped of all his wealth (something that theoretically hackers shouldn't do, yet they definitely do).

In conclusion, although another readaptation was probably unnecessary, considering the presence of authors like Henning Mankell who perhaps would have deserved more to be adopted by Hollywood, the film remains low-key and of little interest unless you particularly appreciated the book series.