The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (English)

Obviously by now, you would have already read the book. For those who haven’t, you have about 10 more days to do so coz this one is going to hit the screens in India on the 10th Feb 2012 (hopefully). PVR has started advance booking for the same. You can pre-book your tickets on the PVR Cinemas website. For those who are unaware, here is the link. http://www.pvrcinemas.com/movie/pre-book-form.aspx?pid=8N/SGuOj9j8=&movieid=rDJnnCx7F1KWUI4/ffc0hg==

This is the review for the English version. Just happened to catch up with it in Adelaide. Could not have waited till I got back to India because the damn teasing was getting too much to handle. It was to be released about 2 months back and I have no clue why the distributors were taking so long. Plus, how could I have missed an opportunity to post a review a full 10 days before my primary audience can watch it. Will post the link again a couple of days before the actual release in India if you would like me to that is.

David Fincher has been one of my favourite directors of all time. Starting from the spine chilling Se7en (not including Alien3) all the way to the exceptionally well directed Social Network that got him his second nomination (other than The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) at the Oscars. So you could have imagined my happiness when I realized that TGWTDT was to be directed by him in English. But my happiness has been for the first time ever so slightly belied by Mr. Fincher. Through the movie, there are small instances of deviating from the actual storyline that was written by Stieg Larsson. But it keeps building up to a point where you actually get a little peeved because he changes the ending which is supposed to take Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) to Australia and closes it at London instead. Left me quite perplexed as to why he would make so many changes. And then there are consistency errors – can you believe that about Fincher. I couldn’t myself so I think I will watch the movie once again to reconfirm the same.

However, Fincher continues to score on all the other aspects. The Casting was impeccable. Rooney Mara well and truly deserves her nomination. A pity she will lose it to either Meryl Streep or Viola Davis. Craig as Blomkvist and Plummer as Henrik Vanger were brilliant. The Editing had Fincher’s direction all over it to say the least. Kirk Baxter & Angus Wall who won it for Social Network continue to give their best here as well. Great camera work especially in some scenes which are outstanding like after Lisbeth tattoos Nils Bjurman on his chest and camera moves right over her. Simply stunning.

I did however think that a lot was overdone. Like the emphasis on the physical relationship between Blomkvist and Salander. The siphoning of Wennerstorm’s funds. And the last few pages of the book which show Salander losing out on love yet again. To name a few, these were the sections which need not have been addressed at all. And therefore, important parts such as Salander’s father and the exciting build up to finding out the murderer of Harriet Vanger get compromised. To Fincher’s credit, he has given the right importance to aspects such as the relationship with Erika Berger which was downplayed in the Swedish version. Overall, not upto Fincher’s standards. But definitely well made. No surprise though that the Oscars have ignored this one. 7 on 10 is what I say.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3830160409/

The Tourist

It came as a total shocker to me when I realized that The Tourist is directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. Guess what? Donnersmarck has also directed a German movie called Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) which deservedly won the Oscar for the best movie in the category of Foreign Films. An extremely powerful movie which had barely any flaws. So to expect something as drab and lifeless as The Tourist from his table was even more disappointing than the pain of waiting for the movie to end. God, I have, very infrequently so wanted a movie to end.


Elise Clifton Ward (Angelina Jolie) is being watched by the Interpol, led by Inspector John Acheson (Paul Bettany) of Scotland Yard. They are in search of Alexander Pierce who owes the British Government a princely sum of 744 million pounds. A great figure to throw at someone in an story of grand larceny I guess. Elise is spending her time in a plush five star in Paris and makes her way to what I can only imagine is her evening cuppa – I would be very surprised if she were to be dressed up so well around 7 in the morning. She is well aware that she is being watched coz she is Pierce’s girl. She was seeing him during the time Pierce was swindling Underworld Don Reginald Shaw (Steven Berkoff) of 2.5 billion pounds – another fantastic figure to throw at the audience. But Alex decides to take off and leave Elise stranded without any money for nearly 2 years now. And the Interpol has been desperately searching for him for a much longer period of time. Funnily, no one has seen Pierce. With the exception of Shaw.

As Elise is having her usual snack, she gets a courier delivered to her. No surprise that it is engraved with the letters AP. AP apologises, through the letter, and asks her to take the 8:22 to Venice and instructs her to find someone who is about the same height as his own and strike up a conversation so that the cops are thrown off the trail. For someone who is a gilted lover, Elise surely takes off quickly without a thought – after burning the letter though. She does exactly what is instructed of her and finds herself with Frank Tupelo (Johnny Depp) on the train to Venice. Frank is a math teacher from Wisconsin and therefore – The Tourist.

What follows is one of the slowest crime capers that I have ever seen. Lives of Others was slow alright Florian but it was also extremely intense and gripping. Just because a movie is slow doesn’t make it good. Surprisingly large number of inconsistencies like the 8:22 to Venice – was it a morning train or an evening one. If morning then why was Jolie decked up @ 7 am? If evening then how in the blazes does she get to Venice when its all bright and sunny? Does it take 15 minutes to get to Venice from Paris? Not sure but worth a dekko. Performances from Johnny Depp and Jolie would easily rate amongst their worst to date. Paul Bettany was probably the only actor who tried to make an impact. Classic case of “never judge a book by its cover and therefore a movie by its trailer or its poster for that matter”. 4 on 10 from my side and I think I am being generous.