Luke here, back with a new limited series where I talk about like 60 movies over the next 60 days. Click here for an explanation. Read on for the quick and dirty review!
Just as the remake is coming out, I find it more pertinent than ever to point out that this movie, the original, which came out barely 2 years ago, is an astonishing accomplishment in filmmaking, and that no matter how good the American remake might turn out to be, it's still important to ask ourselves if the remake is actually something that needed to be done. Having seen what an American director can do to a remake of a popular Swedish movie (I'm referring to the scar on cinematic history known as Let Me In, a travesty of a movie), I'm not very excited to see TGwtDT(2011), despite how admittedly awesome the trailer is. Will I still see it? Yeah, I think I will, but I'm just saying I'm not getting to excited about it. And here's why:
Niels Arden Oplev's 2009 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a triumph. The characters are rich and enticing, each with complex but believable histories. For the audience, the joy of watching the meticulous unveiling of the mystery that the plot revolves around, the thing that links our characters, almost pales in comparison to the excitement that comes with learning more about the characters themselves. Watching them interact, learning more about their lives with genuine interest was more engrossing than watching any simple murder mystery. It was repulsive at times (not gorey, just uncomfortable), which didn't repel me, but, rather, drew me in further. An amazing, moving, movie. I DARE any director to have the same effect with the same characters and story, but without Oplev's hand and the powerhouses that were Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist. Double Dog Dare.