Reason Writers at the Movies: Peter Suderman Reviews The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Reason Associate Editor Peter Suderman reviews director David Fincher's adaptation of Stieg Larsson's novel, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, in today's Washington Times:
People will say there are a million ways to shoot a scene, but I don't think so," director David Fincher has been quoted as saying. "I think there're two, maybe. And the other one is wrong." In "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," Mr. Fincher never picks the wrong shot.
The movie, based on Swedish author Stieg Larsson's massively popular novel, is as meticulous as it is mesmerizing, steeped in a chilly mix of visual detail and gruesome incident. It is sometimes a hard film to watch, but even in the midst of its most gut-churning moments, it's impossible to turn your eyes away.
Like "Seven" and "Zodiac," two previous Fincher films, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" is a serial killer movie. It's also a self-contained murder mystery, and a feminist revenge picture. If the film has a flaw, it's that it cannot entirely decide which it wants to be, and while each of the individual elements is handled masterfully, the combination is sometimes awkward.