Dir: Niels Arden Oplev
Every hear someone comment about a movie being “formulaic”? There are some tried and true story-telling paradigms that just work. Not just as a vehicle for selling tickets, but also as a vehicle for telling a compelling story. We've seen these formulas in play so much, we can often predict the next scene or the next line of dialog. Heck, we can even see the bad guy a mile away. But its ok, because the formula works. The movie “Scream” does a wonderful job of explaining how this formula is not only present, but vital to making the story unfold properly. I wouldn't go so far as to quote a movie like “Scream”, but I will suggest that, when done well, using the same formula over again isn't such a bad thing. Allow me to place a bit more emphasis on that part: “If Done Well!”
“Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” is a formulaic story about a man hired to uncover the nature of a Billionaire's favorite niece's murder. 40 years prior, she disappeared without a trace, and the old man has obsessed over it ever since. But the clues dwindled away, and the original case has been long cold. Our hero Michael is a reporter who only has six months before he goes to jail for committing Libel against a wealthy financier who, we are allowed to believe, set him up. Michael has his work cut out for him, since it is the old man's wealthy infighting family whom he most suspects. Michael gets cracking on the reams of documents and clues and soon runs into a roadblock. A roadblock that gets shoved aside when he receives an anonymous e-mail that explains the clues to him; someone has been hacking onto his computer and reading his notes. Michael tracks down the hacker, whom we have already met in a story running parallel, and her name is Lisbet. The parallel story is pretty heavy, and I don't wish to otherwise color this family friendly blog by going into detail. Suffice to say Lisbet is a young woman who must suffer the worst of humanity, but has become hard enough to extract herself; however she is able. Michael hires her on, impressed and trust her. The rest of the thriller is likely predictable if you have every seen a mystery thriller before. Therefore, I won't share any more with you.
I haven't yet read the book, but the story is fairly straightforward and … formulaic. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to criticize that point, but rather applaud the fact that this director made it compelling and interesting despite. I had successfully guessed the bad guy, knew when each tension filled moment was going to occur, and was pointing my own fingers at the hero making gunshot noises when the shots rang out on film. But I was grinning as well. The story IS compelling, and the characters are so brilliantly drawn and portrayed. The cinematography isn't overly artistic and grand, but it is concise and deliberate. It is a good, a very good movie. I found myself running to the restroom for a bio-break, thinking “he shouldn't be there, he needs to get out of there!” And running back, though the movie was on pause.
The two main characters, Michael and Lisbet, are perfect. Michael is cast as this sincere, middle aged guy with integrity and foibles, a bit melancholy because of the recent events hanging over his head. He is persistent, as the old man explains, but there is no arrogance there. He is solid and that is important because he becomes an anchor for Lisbet. Lisbet is a young woman still beholden to a social rule that forces her to endure a legal guardian. The trauma that erupts from this, as well a other instances in her past, have hardened her, aged her. She is dark and brooding, distrustful and cold. But inside is a soul that craves sincerity and honesty, even as she tries to convince herself it doesn't exist. In a contrast that only a foreign film could capture, Lisbet ends up kicking ass and saving Michael's life while Michael offers her a safe path back to humanity. They are diametrically opposed, which makes them a brilliantly conceived team; another tried and true formula.
I really enjoyed this movie. It is a solid film, with good acting and good direction. I think I even heard it is being remade as an American film. This, of course, isn't a novel idea; “La Femme Nikita” is an example of another brilliant foreign film that just wasn't accessible to an English speaking audience unwilling to endure the rigorous inconvenience of subtitles. The remake wasn't bad, especially since it was scene-for-scene, frame-for-frame a remake with new actors.
Though the movie was formulaic, it is a testament to the fact that, when lovingly crafted by an artist, the formula not only holds up but can remind us why it has become the formula. But it takes a light touch, and a passion for the genre, and good actors, and solid cinematography, and all the things that make a quality film. In short, a good movie doesn't have to find a new niche when it is good, period.
