I sometimes make it a point to watch a movie devoid of what the plot is all about except for the fact that I was told that the flick was a remake of a Swedish film starring Swedish actress Noomi Rapace of the “Sherlock Holmes: The Game of Shadows” fame. Yes, she’s Madame Simza Heronin, the gypsy fortune teller who played an integral part in the aforementioned blockbuster as Lisbeth Salander in the critically-acclaimed “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”.
And when one remakes a movie, the stuff must be something good!
Only this time, Rooney Mara of “The Social Network” plays the withdrawn, punk-attired (complete with the piercings) Lisbeth Salander for this remake. And along with Daniel Craig of the “James Bond” franchise as Mikael Blomkvist, “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” is one flick too awesomely curious to pass on.
Now, the movie curiously opens with an assortment of moving visual images in black theme… like something out of the inventive subconscious of an artistic photographer who very well knows about his visual aesthetics, or… is the movie’s device of imparting what’s to be expected on the mind of the titular character.
The opening soundtrack is also a curiosity as it seems to be something out of a James Bond opening sequence as well.
No matter, the movie in its story-telling dealt with a shamed investigative writer/co-owner of Millennium Magazine Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) who was taken in by a mysterious benefactor for another job after losing out on a libel case against a corrupt Hans-Erik Wennerstrom (Ulf Friberg).
And with his life virtually destroyed including his finances, Mikael takes on the task. Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer), retired CEO of Vanger Industries, and Blomkvist ‘s new benefactor explains to him the nuances of his job description. The task would be in the guise of a memoir but in truth would be an in-depth investigation of how he lost his daughter to an alleged murder 40 years ago. The assignment would entail a lot of digging into old family secrets and as such treads on dangerous grounds, so to speak.
To make the plot more interesting, the Vanger family isn’t exactly in the mold of the Von Trapp family but they can somehow be classified as such as they lived the Holocaust as main players to the historic infamy.
(Fast Fact: Christopher Plummer once played Captain Von Trapp in the 1965 film, The Sound of Music about the escape of the Von Trapp family to the mountains to elude the Nazis)
The movie sometimes drags in certain portions, but the side story of the main protagonist brought a new twist to the investigative plot.
Lisbeth Salander, already a curious character to begin with played Blomkvist’s research partner in the latter part of the film, and her meeting the shamed writer was a welcome design in the movie’s current scheme of things.
As an adept hacker/researcher, Rooney Mara played her character to the hilt including some ‘needed’ nudity. But what really made the movie a draw was how the two characters managed to pull-off the task despite the imminent danger of the job.
Furthermore, as the two characters fight off their own personal demons, the job at hand seemed to come so natural to them.
Well, we’re not really allowed to divulge more of the movie’s main points but I’m sure with what you read, curiosity will get the better of you… Cheers!
