Jeff Adkins
Senior HTF Member
I went to see this last night with many reservations. I thought the original Swedish film was outstanding and really didn't know how Fincher could do any better. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised. I still prefer the original, but the remake far surpassed my expectations. Daniel Craig was outstanding in the role of Mikael Blomkvist. Fincher's direction is very stylish and the supporting cast is quite good as well. My only two complaints: 1) Rooney Mara's performance as Lisbeth Salander didn't quite work as well for me. At times, I got the impression that she was trying to hard and it came across as less believable. Granted, that's a tough role to take on for any actress, but Noomi Rapace just nailed it. 2) The unfolding of the clues seemed to flow better in the original. There were times in this one where I was a bit confused trying to figure out what was going on. Since it had been a couple of years since I had seen the Swedish version, I had forgotten many of the key elements to the mystery. I think the new Fincher version is worth seeing. I think he did a remarkable job overall, especially when you consider the film he was remaking was nearly flawless to begin with. I'll give the 2011 Fincher version: B+ The original Swedish film: A