Watch the Dragon!

Okay I said I was gone, but I am not yet. So whatever, just read this.

Last night, I went with Brett to see The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Maybe I am sick, but I dug it so hard. Admittedly, I have never read any of the books or seen the Swedish movies, so I NEEDED that hour of back story and expository info and was, for the lack of a better expression, falling off the edge of my seat. Brett, having seen the Swedish version, warned me I would be "sticking my fingers way up into my ear holes." This is not gross of Brett; I used to live with him and he knows I love to watch horror films, but when things turn scary, I cover my EARS instead of my eyes. Brett HATES this and will actually pull my hands out of my ears if he sees me doing it. Anyway, I scoffed when he told me I'd do it during Tattoo, but, I mean, some scenes were REALLY DIFFICULT to watch. And yet I was riveted.

First of all, David Fincher is so special. I am ignoring that Benjamin Button ever happened and just going to go ahead and call him a genius. The guy directed Madonna's "Express Yourself," for Christ's sake. Not to mention the GROSSLY underrated Zodiac. He has such a specific look and mood he creates, that he's fine tuned over the years to a point where you know you're watchnig a Fincher movie from the first shot. These movies are by no means perfect (super-long, a little too-polished, and you can tell he is sometimes tempted to lean towards the CHEESE), but that's what makes them HIS. Fincher is an auteur of the highest order. This movie is VERY Fincher. He went FULL FINCHER. Okay I will stop.

Second, CREDITS. The credits are so fucking cool! They didn't ASTONISH me, like the first time I saw the credits for Seven, but they completely set the mood for the entire film (violent, loud, dark, sexy), they were big and franchise-y (like a twisted opening to a James Bond film), and Trent Reznor and Karen O doing "Immigrant Song" is just HEAVEN to me. In general, the music was incredible. The score sounded like the cold: all steely and howling. I was hooked right away.

Third (thirdLY? Whatever), the acting is just damn good. I liked Rooney Mara as Lisbeth; she looks like a fantastic creature thas is sort of this scary/blank canvas that the viewer can project all of their emotions onto while at the same time thinking "damn, I am NOTHING like this chick." Some critics want to hand her the whole movie, saying everything rests on the hunch of Lisbeth's bony shoulders. I disagree. I think this is Daniel Craig's movie just as much as Mara's and actually, the scenes that the two share are electric (a little bit because they are having sex in some of them and it's the only consensual sex in the movie). Granted, ever since I saw this terrible movie (that I liked) Dreamhouse starring Craig, I have not been able to stop thinking about him and his ice blue eyes and about what he looks like with his top off. But he is also a lovely, measured actor and he is fascinating to watch. Stellan Skarsgard is always good and creepy and Swedish and the rapey, disgusting social worker is actually given some humanity by...that guy that plays him. And any movie with Princess Buttercup in it is always solid, in my opinion.

Fourth and everything else-ly, the movie just really captures a mood and a theme and an icy heart of a place far away. I don't know that this is the BEST movie I saw all year (in fact, I know it's not), but it was CERTAINLY one of the most watchable, beautiful, and well-crafted. That I was bummed when it ended and wanted the next two movies to happen immediately following says a lot to me. Anyway go see it. Also, Lisbeth Salander is a hipster ok BYE.