FILM REVIEW

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
DIRECTED BY: David Fincher
STARRING: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara, Robin Wright, Stellan Skarsgard
CERT: 18

I haven’t read the phenomenally popular Millennium novels by the late Stieg Larsson, but the first in the series, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, was made into a fine feature film in 2009 by director Niels Arden Oplev. The Swedish production starred Michael Nyqvist as the reporter Blomqvist, and the excellent Noomi Rapace (currently starring as Madam Heron in the second Sherlock Holmes) as the titular heroine, Lisbeth Salander.
It’s dark stuff, crossing the old fashioned murder mystery with a somewhat more modern and graphic tale of torture and serial killings, with a bit of ancient religion thrown into the mix.
So when it came time for the boys in Hollywood to turn out the American version, well, if director David Fincher’s name wasn’t the only one on their list, it was at the top. With Zodiac and Se7en on his CV, he’s been down this road a few times. He has the form and he brings plenty of it to the party here.
In Fincher’s story, Daniel Craig steps into the formidable shoes of journalist Michael Blomqvist, who’s taken on a corrupt corporation and found himself on the wrong end of a libel judgment.
Disgraced and out of work, he’s offered a job by elderly millionaire Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer), whose extended family live a secluded existence on their own private island. Henrik’s favorite niece Harriet disappeared without trace 40 years ago, and every day since he’s been trying to find out what happened. But he’s turned up nothing and now he’s pushing on, and wants Blomqvsit to have a shot at solving the case.
So the reporter moves to the island and sets up base in a cold old cottage, where he papers the wall with pictures and notes as he hacks at the family tree, uncovering old secrets and skeletons, including historical ties to the Nazi party.
The going is slow until a few unexpected hints turn up and Blomqvist hooks up with Lisbeth Salander (Mara), a professional computer hacker with ties of her own to the Vangers and a past that’s almost as grim. Most recently, that includes a violent, abusive probation officer who didn’t really know who he was dealing with.
An unlikely pair, the middle-aged journalist and the young goth biker chick might never have turned up in Agatha Christie’s worst nightmares but they would have done the old lady proud with their knack for sleuthing, and for avoiding getting their heads blown off by the mad brother. Though you get the feeling Miss Marple would never have made that crucial late mistake. Then again, there are dark, terrible places she never had to go, places that do bad things to your head.
I don’t know how fans of the book will take to Fincher’s film, but it’s a fine thriller, and it covers almost the same ground as the Swedish movie, so I’m guessing it doesn’t stray far from the novel.
Technically, it’s a better film than the earlier one, and Fincher’s talent for mood and suspense is superior to Oplev’s. Though in all fairness, it’s probably superior to everyone else’s too.
But Oplev’s film had a certain heart to it that’s missing in this one, some warmth or humanity or vulnerability in the characters. Maybe that’s partly a casting thing, though Daniel Craig does a decent job and Rooney Mara (who previously worked with Fincher on The Social Network as the girl who dumped Zuckerburg) gives a fine performance as Lisbeth. There’s just somehow less depth to them, like they’re a coldly manufactured item rather than the genuine article – like a decent cover of a great song.
Certainly worth checking out but not the real thing.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
DIRECTED BY: Brad Bird
STARRING: Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton, Jeremy Renner
CERT: 12A

There are some of us who thought the Mission: Impossible series should have been put to bed after day one.  
Well, I’ve been wrong before, and now the latest Mission director has proved me wrong again. Impressive stuff for a man making his feature film debut, but then, Brad Bird is not exactly a stranger to the movies. He’s been working in animation for years, and directed two of the modern animated classics – The Iron Giant for Warners, and The Incredibles for Pixar. He also made Pixar’s Ratatouille, but we can’t hold that against him forever.
His contribution to the Mission: Impossible universe will not be remembered for its fine attention to story and character, though he doesn’t do a shabby job there, all said. No, it will mostly be remembered for the fun, and that’s something that’s been missing in action since, well, since always. It helps that this is a magnificent action spectacle, too.
The plot finds the new crew – including tough cookie Jane Carter (Patton) and wiseguy computer nerd Benji (Pegg) – breaking old team leader Ethan (Cruise) out of prison in Russia. There’s a bit of an emergency involving nuclear codes and a satellite, and a mad fellow called Kurt Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist – both of the original Dragon Tattoo stars have now found Hollywood fame) who has notions about blowing up the world.
The fireworks start in Moscow and an unfortunate incident involving the Kremlin that sees the IMF team disavowed by the US government. So the boys and girls – later joined by the mysterious Brandt (Jeremy Renner) – must go it alone to save the day, with the help of some very nifty gizmos and gadgets, and a special pair of reinforced underpants. 
Their globetrotting ultimately brings them to Dubai, for the simple reason that if Tom Cruise is going to go playing on a skyscraper, it’s got to be the tallest building in the world.
As I said, it’s all about the fun and the spectacle. So just enjoy.

Coming soon for 2012

Well, there goes another year. And as far as movies are concerned, good riddance. With the occasional exception, it was one to forget.
My favourite of 2011 was the heart-pounding mixed martial arts film, Warrior. The plot was your basic clichéd sports movie, crossed with an emotional family drama that wasn’t the most original, but it worked brilliantly because of fine direction, inspired casting, and the best fight scenes anywhere, ever.
It was so good, it almost made me want to work out and any film that makes my wife cry uncontrollably and punch me with excitement at the same time, clearly has something going for it.
So what’s in store for 2012? Well, as I’m pretty sure I’ve been writing at this time every year since this column was born, it includes a hell of a lot of déjà vu. Sequels, prequels, rehashes, reboots, and more superheroes than you can shake an angry, green, radioactive spider’s utility belt at. These, and the toys that always follow in their trail, will all arrive soon at a town near you, available for the price of the arm and leg you didn’t lose last year.
Spider-Man returns this year, with Andrew Garfield stepping into Tobey Maguire’s tights, which I’m sure will look lovely in 3D. Batman is back, too, Christian Bale taking one last gallop around the block in The Dark Knight Rises. At the other end of the scale, Nicolas Cage takes on the Devil again next month as the hellish renegade Johnny Blaze in Ghostrider: Spirit of Vengeance.
Staying with the freaks, The Avengers will kick off the summer, finally bringing Hulk, Thor, Iron Man and Captain America together, and finally bringing Samuel L Jackson out of the closing credits of other movies. They’ll be joined soon after by Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, getting reacquainted with black suits and aliens in the long-awaited (by some, I’m sure) Men in Black III. If that’s not enough freakiness to be getting on with, Sacha Baron Cohen will turn up as The Dictator, which I hope is better than what they’ve been showing in the trailers.
Also showing in Sequel Town, Wrath Of The Titans, with Sam Worthington as Perseus again, back to give some more mythical monsters an epic kicking. The American Pie gang will return for an epic attempt at the gross-out gag count in American Reunion, though they’ll have some competition in the moron race because here’s Scary Movie 5, coming up on the inside. Yes, we live in interesting times.
Ah but the boys in Hollywood know we haven’t had enough yet, which is why we’ll also be treated to Taken 2, The Expendables 2, GI Joe 2, Madagascar 3, Halloween 3D, The Chainsaw Massacre 3D, Step Up 4 and Ice Age 4. There’ll also be another episode of the Bourne series, with Jeremy Renner taking over leading man duties from Matt Damon. And lest we forget, The Twilight Saga comes to an end with Breaking Dawn Part II, breaking the hearts of young women all over the world, and bringing many grown adults to tears for somewhat different reasons.
Beloved TV shows have always been fertile ground for the movie moguls, and this year is no different. The old high school detective show 21 Jump Street gets the big screen makeover this spring, starring Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum. Hill co-wrote the script, so expect the old show’s drama to get a large shot of comedy, or something resembling it. What to expect from The Three Stooges is anybody’s guess but I fear it will be tears and not from laughing.
Fairy tales have been mined for big screen gold too, never more cleverly than in the Shrek series. The big green guy is not on duty this summer but Snow White is in action in Snow White And The Huntsman, with vampire chick Kristen Stewart as the heroine and Charlize Theron as the Evil Queen. Not to be outdone, Jack The Giant Killer climbs a large beanstalk and does battle with, well, some giants. Bryan Singer (The Usual Suepects, X-Men) is in the director’s chair, so it might just be a blast.
Fairy tales, myth, horror and history all collide this summer in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, which presents the great man not just as president and emancipator, but as the American Van Helsing. And did you know that vampires were the real the reason the Civil War was fought? Neither did I but I’m looking forward to learning the truth. If that’s too much to handle, then Steven Spielberg will offer up a more traditional version of the man’s story in Lincoln, set for release in December and starring Daniel Day Lewis in the title role. I can’t wait to see that one, either.
But the film I’m most looking forward to in 2012 is Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit, which you could call a Lord Of The Rings prequel but you wouldn’t feel right about saying it. The trailers have provided many goosebumps, and it’s going to be a long wait till the middle of December.
Then again, if the Mayans were right, we won’t be watching many more movies after that one, so we should enjoy the time while we have it.  Have a happy new year.