Stieg Larsson was a fascinating man. It’s unfortunate that the world didn’t get to meet him until after he’d left it. The Swedish journalist — “muckracker” might be a better word — died in 2004, just 50 years old. He left behind a trilogy of novels that were published after his death — and became an international phenomenon, selling more than 25 million copies around the world.
It was inevitable that “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” the first book, would be brought to the big screen — twice. His native Sweden has a powerfully creative film industry. And because Americans don’t much watch foreign films, Hollywood had to have its say. David Fincher’s version arrived in theaters this week.
But watching it, one gets no sense of the compelling man who inspired it. And that’s a problem. Because Mikael Blomkvist, the crusading journalist at the heart of the story, is the alter ego of his creator. He wrote a trilogy of novels that focus — in sometimes excruciating detail — on sexual violence against women because he could never shake the image of the gang rape he witnessed as a teenager. He didn’t help that young woman; but through his books, he hoped to atone.
Fincher’s film, though, might be the year’s best example of the cliche of style triumphing over substance. His “Dragon Tattoo” is an engaging, visually exciting film. But it’s as empty as the soul of its villain.
That’s a strange thing to say about a film that runs nearly two hours and 40 minutes. And I am in the minority: Reviews of “Dragon Tattoo” are currently running 83 percent positive, according to critical aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. But Fincher, once Hollywood’s most promising and daring director, has become one of its most overrated. Critics expect great things from him, and no one likes to be disappointed.
But the character of Mikael Blomkvist in his film is no character at all. Daniel Craig plays him just right, a hardheaded (“stubborn” is a better word) reporter who prints what he thinks should be printed, despite any consequences to himself. But we never learn why he has such strong feelings — not about the mogul he libeled, according to the court decision that opens the film, and not about the killer he tracks as the film moves toward its sickening conclusion.
The only character that does come to life in this film is the one of the title. Rooney Mara, who played Mark Zuckerberg’s cute little girlfriend at the beginning of Fincher’s “The Social Network,” is nearly unrecognizable here. “I find it much better if she works from home,” one character says of the anti-social hacker she plays. She’s a victim of sexual violence, and that’s how Blomkvist — rather a cad himself — gets her to help his investigation, which ends up very much out of her comfort zone.
That investigation really isn’t that interesting. It involves a lot of looking at photographs, a lot of looking at computer screens. What’s intriguing about “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” is how a philanderer risks his own life fighting for justice for the girls and women who are the victims of the worst of his sex. Sadly, David Fincher thought that puzzle wasn’t worth exploring as much as Rooney Mara’s body.
