Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Review

Went to see Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for $7.50 at the Regal 14 matinee last Friday with two acquaintances. The movie is based on the Swedish version of the first Stieg Larrson book of the trilogy. Larrson died of a heart attack at the age of 50 in 2004. The manuscripts were published posthumously.

It was a guilty pleasure to see afternoon matinee on a weekday. I was blown away. The action sequences, the raciness of some of the sex scenes, the eerieness of the music and characters. All were unexpected, especially seeing the new James Bond, Daniel Craig, playing a mild-mannered (at first) and non-gun-wielding journalist caught up in an investigation of a child's disappearance years earlier that then uncovered a series of serial killings linked to Swedish a fascist sympathizer.

I had not read the books - yet - or seen the Swedish language subtitled movie. My daughter had borrowed the trilogy a year ago and I haven't seen them since. My brother sent them to me a couple years ago, but I have a long book list. My daughter is 17 and has seen the movie, rated R, but the book must also have been R-rated and as racy. Makes me wonder what she thought of what she read. She is old enough to get into the movie without an adult accompanying, not that this is a movie I would feel comfortable watching with my 17-year old girl. It's not Harry Potter.

Rooney Mara oozes angst-laden and possibly bipolar or borderline personality sensuality, yet works her diagnosis and computer genius to defeat her own demon social worker with deviousness and unrepentant vengeance, yet easily converts into a sexy blonde in later scenes where she sets up the downfall of the movie's corporate villian who burned Daniel Craig's character in a libel suit.

This is the American version of the poster without the pierced exposed nipple. The influence of the Christian right and religion forced American movie execs to cover up the image with the superimposed opening date. Why do the minority of prudish Americans have such influence on the mainstream media when they are not consumers of these products. Not don't ask don't tell. Don't look, don't complain. You don't hear about the Amish burning books. Why do we Americans have such problems with the female (or male) form and why is Europe more open to being open? Americans came to America for religious freedom and apparently the right to force feed us their gods. Worse yet, they believe they, the minority, have the right to tell other people what they can and can't do the sake of the collective morality. Get used to it. It's not going away, but fortunately Rick Santorum will. But I digress.

I was especially impressed with the soundtrack, so indicative of Trent Reznor's recent post-NIN work. The opening sequence starts with a remake of Immigrant Song, which contains Norse mythological references, sung by Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, with instrumentation by Trent Reznor and collaborator Atticus Ross, who co-wrote the rest of the nonlyrical soundtrack. Trent could easily be nominated for his second Academy Award, not for the song, but the score. The song plays over the opening credits through a series of hypercloseups and bizarre images, setting the tone for this dark and very watchable move.