Although I'm a fan of David Fincher's films, I was still a little hesitant to see his version of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" based on its reputation of brutality, a convoluted plot, and overall Swedishness. While these elements are very much a part of the film, the investigation conducted by Blomkvist and Salander was completely enthralling, reminiscent of the other police procedurals by Fincher, "Seven" and the first two-thirds of "Zodiac." When Salander discovers the names and numbers from Harriet Vanger's notebook were the female murder victims and the corresponding Bible verses describing how they were killed, I suddenly realized how similar this revelation was to "Seven," and no wonder Fincher was attracted to this material.
Once it is revealed the killer was Gottfried Vanger, Harriet's ex-Nazi Father, and the victims had biblical or Jewish names, the film then rushes past the reasoning for these murders and why he made such elaborate connections to the Bible. Instead we are left to assume he committed these acts because was a Nazi, and that's it. Even worse is his son Martin, who also grew up to be a serial killer of young women, however, he doesn't make any grand statements like his Father, he kills them simply because he gets a kick out of it. When he is finished with his victims, he doesn't leave any evidence, he even mocks his Father for leaving the bodies in such a theatrical manner, for not being practical. This is sound advice for not getting caught, but it doesn't make for a very interesting character.
What makes this so frustrating is Fincher has already dealt with similar material. In "Seven," when the identity of John Doe had been discovered after the majority of the film had focused on his murders that correspond with the seven deadly sins, there is a scene when Detective Somerset reads a passage from one of Doe's journals, telling how he vomited when a man tried to speak to him on the subway. Along with the conversation in the car at the end of the film, Doe is presented as having a deep hatred for humanity, how he believes his murders will enlighten them as to what they have become. Fincher is able to achieve this character's motive with a handful of scenes, and that's all he needed to add to "Dragon Tattoo," just a couple more scenes to flesh out the characters of Gottfried and Martin. Maybe there was more detail given in Stieg Larsson's novel, and even if it was too much information to fit in a film, it could have been synthesized into at least one scene. Maybe Martin could have described the influence of learning of his Father's murders when he was a young man, or maybe these crimes were not isolated to their family but were a reflection of their society in general. Whatever the reason, it probably would have been better than what the film ended up with.
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