Hear Me Out: David Fincher needs to return to the ‘Millennium’ series
When discussing the splendour of David Fincher, the usual suspects typically appear: Fight Club, Se7en, The Social Network and periodically, the Netflix series Mindhunter. Of course, those titles undoubtedly deserve praise, given that they remain luminous pieces of modern cinema in their own right. Yet, because Fincher’s most lauded titles are so prominent, some of his other works do not get the full extent of praise they deserve. Whilst a handful fit into this category, I’m specifically talking about the most underrated movie in his oeuvre: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
In my mind, the 2011 movie is not only the most underrated moment Fincher has produced but one of his best in general. Although the Scandinavian trilogy that adapts the late Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series is good and faithful, Fincher’s first and only outing into the author’s dark world of Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist trumps its Nordic counterpart in almost every department.
Rooney Mara was perfectly cast as the enigmatic hacker Salander and imbued the character with the complex essence of Larsson’s novels. It’s a far cry from Noomi Rapace’s almost robotic version in Niels Arden Oplev’s 2009 version. In her visceral moments, she makes the audience genuinely frightened, such as when she brings bloody vengeance on her abuser, and in her rarer, tender moments, she manages to evoke genuine emotion for the plight of her life, despite it being fictional. Mara and the writing are so precise that it makes the viewer consider the children brought up as wards of the state and the crimes often committed against vulnerable people simply because they do not have the authority to defend themselves.
Her opposite number, Daniel Craig, excels as the fearless investigative journalist Blomkvist. Whilst he is excellent in the role, bringing some of the reserved potency to proceedings that made his James Bond so successful, it’s hard to see past the late Michael Nyqvist’s performance as the journalist in the Scandinavian trilogy, as it was near-perfect, very close to the character Larsson – who died in 2004 – conceived in the books. Despite Nyqvist’s defining performance, Craig still brings something new to the role, and again, it’s one of his best, even if it is very Daniel Craig. Strengthening things, his chemistry with Mara is exceptional.
Elsewhere, the broader cast was also flawless. Whether it be Robin Wright as Erika Berger, Blomkvist’s Millennium business partner and occasional lover, Christopher Plummer as wealthy businessman Henrik Vanger seeking to solve his family’s decades-long mystery or Stellan Skarsgård as Martin Vanger – another wildly overlooked performance – there’s a high level of dramatic quality featured in this film that gives even Fincher’s best-known works a run for their money.
Underpinning the greatness of 2011’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is that Fincher understood and respected the subject material. With its penchant for the darkly cerebral, his style was an ideal foil for Larsson’s. His years of experience creating complex mysteries and procedural thrillers such as Se7en, Zodiac and even The Game, in tandem with Hollywood backing, meant his film brought Larsson’s book to life in greater detail than most and with greater impact than Oplev’s.
I must be clear again, I am not tearing into Oplev’s trilogy as they are wonderful and exist in their own space, but Fincher was really onto something with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. From the chilling atmosphere of Jeff Cronenweth’s cinematography to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ equally haunting score, including their bombastic Karen O-featuring cover of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Immigrant Song’, almost every aspect was well conceived and executed adroitly.
In December 2011, Fincher declared that he planned to adapt the two sequels, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest, “back to back”. A 2013 release date for The Girl Who Played with Fire was announced, yet the movie never materialised due to various factors. Instead, Sony, the company behind Fincher’s film, gave us Fede Álvarez’s 2018 adaptation of David Lagercrantz’s Millennium continuation novel, The Girl in the Spider’s Web, which was a disaster on all fronts.
David Fincher has unfinished business with the Millennium trilogy. He, Mara and Craig were a perfect blend for bringing Stieg Larsson’s wildly important books to life. Like many of us, I can only dream that the director and cast return to the story one day.
