It all started sometime last February when a new copy of W landed on my desk. The cover featured then unknown actress Rooney Mara’s striking transformation: A new found hardened gaze, raven toned locks, bloody knuckles, and a large winding chest piece. I quickly flipped through the pages desperate to find the ajoining spread. And there she was: a cigarette pressed between her lips leaning over a chair getting a tattoo on her ass. If loving her was wrong than I didn’t want to be right and I basically bought my movie ticket on that day. I had never read one of Stieg Larsson’s novels yet I was intrigued. A few years ago when the series received it’s English translation it felt like they were the only books anyone was reading. You’d enter a packed subway car to be greeted by a sea of their covers. People of every race and age looked down with furrowed brows, heads deep in the pages and feverishly turning to get to the next chapter. “What the fuck is this book?” I kept thinking to myself and now I stood staring down at a glossy photo of its heroine: Lisbeth Salander inhabited by Rooney Mara.
Lisbeth has had a hard knock life to say the least, a series of dissapoinments concluding with an incident with her father (read: attempted murder) that left her a ward of the state. She has guardians, a few of which care for her and others that see her as a freshly seasoned piece of meat they’d love to dig their teeth (among other things) into. There are brutal scenes including a much discussed rape scene which I fear has stunted the film’s success with American audiences. But there’s some redemption in director David Fincher’s treatment of Lisbeth’s vengeance. It turns out that revenge is a dish best served with a large metal dildo and a freshly minted tattoo gun. It’s a scene that stays with you. Mara is magic here as Lisbeth. She’s intelligent, unique, and has a mix of indifferent confidence and a longing to be understood. She doesn’t say much but when she does people listen and never mind that she can hack her way through any firewall with ease. Mara’s performance goes beyond the visual. Yes, she bleached her eyebrows, chopped her hair, basically became an albino, and really got all of those piercings for the role but she truly becomes Salander. And when she teams up with James Bond Daniel Craig their chemistry is undeniable. Led by their brilliant performances, David Fincher treats Larsson’s novel with a careful hand weaving an unsettling yet engrossing film that haunts you after the credits roll.
Honorable Mention: The Opening credits created by Blur Studio and featuring Trent Reznor and Karen O.’s raw cover of Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song are brilliant. Watch them below!
