The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

For the American version of Stieg Larsson's astoundingly popular The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, director David Fincher and screenwriter Steven Zaillian wisely do away with some of the Swedish author's obsessively detailed, sprawling plot, focusing on sharp characterization and chilling atmosphere. The wealthy Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer, wonderfully hammy) hires Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig, solid if perhaps a bit too hunky for the role), a disgraced idealistic journalist, to investigate the disappearance of Vanger's niece 40 years earlier. Blomkvist enlists Lisbeth Salander, a relentless researcher/hacker, to help him, and they uncover a series of brutal unsolved murders. While Noomi Rapace was a credible Salander, the Swedish film tried too hard to explain the character. Rooney Mara's Salander has an even harder shell. When she's sexually assaulted by a sleazy social worker (Yorick van Wageningen), her vengeance takes on biblical proportions. Mara fully captures Lisbeth's righteous anger and justifiable paranoia, along with the professional pleasure she takes in cracking through whatever barriers she encounters. She doesn't ask for our sympathy, but she does enough to hint at the inner torment that makes Salander such an outcast. This makes the gradual formation of Salander's fragile bond to Blomkvist all the more moving. Fincher's darkly compelling film breezes through the overly complicated plot, and leaves us wanting to know more about Lisbeth Salander. In that sense, it's an ideal adaptation.