I’ve been meaning to talk about this trailer for a few days now. This is an extended (nearly four minutes long) trailer for David Fincher’s English-language adaptation of the popular novel by Stieg Larsson.
As I became more used to foreign-language films, I started to become increasingly frustrated at the apparent need for a US-produced English-language version of nearly every popular foreign-language film. I saw the original Swedish Girl with the Dragon Tattoo film when it had its North American release just last year. I thought that the film, the most stand-alone entry of the trilogy, was an excellent thriller that I viewed on par with North American thrillers (the only difference being was that the film was in Swedish).
Well, like or not, the English-language adaptation (the term remake is way too overused) has been made and this trailer is the first good look at it. I do have to admit that the film looks like it could be good. I’m pretty certain David Fincher knows what he is doing and he even seems to be trying to make the film MORE faithful to the book (i.e. the dragon tattoo is on the shoulder, instead of the full back seen in the Swedish film). The film also has a pretty good cast that include Daniel Craig, Christopher Plummer, Robin Wright, and Stellan SkarsgĂ„rd. Of course, there’s also the score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who can do no wrong in my opinion.
So, what don’t I like? First there is Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander. I’m sure there must be some artistic reason for her looking ugly as hell, but I think they went a little too far here (shaved eyebrows, really?). Also Mara is speaking in a, very noticeably, fake-Swedish accent that I just wished that she would’ve just used her own voice (like everyone else is seemingly doing). Personally, I think I will never be able to see anyone except Noomi Rapace as Salander.
The other thing that bothers me about this trailer goes back to what I said before. Despite a few changes made by Fincher, this film looks to be practically identical to the Swedish film (I think it actually even retains the Swedish setting). As such, while I watch this trailer, I can’t help wonder why this film had to be made (other than, of course, the language barrier). That said, I am curious how faithful Fincher remained to some of the more disturbing elements of the story (which are hinted at in this trailer).
Either way, I will likely still check out the film (for comparison purposes) when it is released December 21 (by coincidence, this film comes out a week after Noomi Rapace‘s English-language debut Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows).